Terrible Twins
by HONK HONK AND Glow Frog Kyrna
Summary: Elaine has just started working for the Weasley twins and it's turing out to be an adventure.  But she's not exactly who she claims to be.  Parallels books 6&7&beyond.
1. Joke Shop Job

**Terrible Twins**

Chapter 1: Joke Shop Job

Elaine looked over her shoulder. They were still following. Why couldn't they leave her alone? Carefully she drew her wand and tucked a couple strands of chin-length black hair behind her ear. She didn't want to alarm them. Suddenly, she whipped around, brandishing the wand as though it was a sword. With a slashing motion, she spoke a curse in her mind. The Death Eaters that had been creeping along behind her were caught in her spell.

Levitating over the street and completely immobilized, the Death Eaters could only watch as Elaine turned around. "Stop following me," she said crisply. "I don't care what you want, but I'm not going to do whatever it is." Sharply, she turned back around and stalked away.

A glance at her watch told her she was late. She hurried up the street a little further. She stopped in front of a bright storefront. It was Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Adjusting her knit cap and brushing a few bits of dried leaves off her coat, she stepped through the door.

"Can I help you?" said a red-haired man behind the counter.

"Yes," she said as she unfolded a piece of paper. "I saw a notice you were looking for workers."

"Right you are. Are you qualified?" George Weasley asked her.

She smiled slightly. "Take a look out here." She pointed to the door. Curious, George stepped out from behind the counter and followed her outside. The Death Eaters were still hanging, unable to move or release themselves. "I hope that makes everything clear?"

"Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Yes. Is that what you meant by being qualified?"

"Highly inventive. You good at putting magic into objects?"

"Certainly." Before George could ask to see proof, she pulled out a piece of bubble gum. She offered it to him. Cautiously he reached out to touch it. The moment his fingertip brushed it, it threw itself at his hair, sticking to nearly every strand.

He tried to charm it off. It didn't work. Nor did yanking. Calmly Elaine did a circling thrust with her wand. The gum leapt off his hair and back into her outstretched hand. George burst out laughing. "You have a name?"

" 'Course I do! Elaine Kellswater." She sounded faintly amused at something.

"Welcome to the team, then Elaine Kellswater. Now, if you'll step into the shop, we'll go over some more things you ought to know." George stood aside to let her pass through first.

Excited, she stepped back into the joke shop. She noticed Fred did not look surprised in the least to see her there. "Welcome, welcome!" He called to someone over his shoulder. "Verity! Come meet the newest member of staff!" A blond witch poked her head out from a back room.

"Hello there. Come with me, I tell you everything you need to know about working here." Elaine followed Verity into the back. "Right now, business in the actual store is fairly slow, as most of our customers are at school. However, we do fill orders, as you are no doubt aware. What we do need the most help with is stocking the shelves. Most of the products cannot be touched by magic, even to lift them, or it might cause problems with the charms. It should be easy to tell where everything goes, but if you have any questions at all, just ask."

The two Weasleys joined the two women in the back. "George tells me you might have a new item for the shop. Mind if I see it?"

With a slight smile, she held out the piece of gum again. Fred tried to pick it up. It got stuck to his hair. Verity and George laughed. Elaine covered her mouth to hide her wide smile. She performed the same circling thrust as before. This time, the gum dropped to the floor, as she did not hold out her hand. Fred looked down at it warily. "Go ahead. It's safe to pick up now. It requires the warmth of a hand to activate the charm."

Fred bent over and picked it up. He rolled it around in his palm and looked closely at it. "This is really clever. Did you come up with the charm on your own?"

"Most of my spells are homemade. So, yes, it is one I made up." She held out her hand and Fred dropped the gumball in it, careful to not touch it at the same time as Elaine. She set it on a shelf.

He turned to Verity. "Have we figured out where that Instant Darkness Powder went?"

She shook her head. "No, Mr. Weasley. I've looked all over!"

"Theft problems?"

"You could say that," George said. "We've had people walk out with more than they paid for. Most of the time we catch 'em at it, but we're still missing quite a bit of things. If only I could catch the one who nicked them!" A wistful look crossed his face.

"Yeah," Fred echoed.

Elaine gave a large smile. "I think I can solve that problem for you." She brought out her wand and slashed it at a shelf. Then she turned to the door and drew strange runes in the air. They went out and stuck to the door frame where they glowed slightly and vanished. "Now take one and walk out the door." George grabbed a skiving snackbox and walked to the door. "If you can," she added in a low voice.

The moment George was through the door, he began levitating, immobilized in everything but his mouth. It was almost the same spell she had used on the Death Eaters, who George saw, were still hovering down the road a ways. "Wicked. Now let me down!"

She flicked her wand and he came floating back into the shop. Once out of view of the Death Eaters, she made another slashing motion and George fell back. "What if we want to leave, you know, with gifts and such?"

Elaine shrugged this away carelessly. "I'll give you an exemption spell."

"Excellent. Verity, get her a uniform."

She looked at the magenta robes with some trepidation. Magenta was a color she was not used to wearing. It was brighter than she usually wore. But she put them on anyway.

The two women bustled around the shop getting what Fred and George required to fill the remaining orders for the day. As evening turned to night on the already dark street, Elaine shouldered her bag again. Verity grabbed her bag as well and they both headed out together.

"Do they _sleep _in the shop?" Elaine asked, curious.

"Yes. In the flat above it, actually," Verity said.

"I didn't see a door that goes up there?"

"Well, it's hidden, idn't?"

The two witches left Diagon Alley. Neither noticed the Death Eaters had vanished and the street was empty. Not too far away from the Leaky Cauldron, Verity waved goodbye to her companion at the steps of her house. Elaine waved back and continued to make her way to her house. A couple blocks from Verity's house, she turned onto a dark and silent side street.

She glared at the unlit lights along the road. She drew her wand and slid her way to her house. The lights were already on. She pushed the door open slightly. A very old man was sitting in an armchair by the flickering fire. "Sit down, my dear," said the man, gesturing to the other armchair.

Back at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred and George packed up for the night. "Tell me, did she look familiar to you?" George asked his twin.

"No, not really," Fred answered, returning a couple items to the appropriate shelves.

"I could have sworn that I'd seen her before."

"She could have been anyone that came into Diagon Alley. You probably have seen her around or something."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Let's go to bed then, shall we?"

The twins went to a shelf in the back of the shop, not visible from any windows or the door. It was not the shelf in the middle of the five, nor was it on the ends. It was to the left of the center. Fred took out his wand and tapped it on the shelf, speaking the opening spell in his mind. He started up the revealed staircase. "You coming, George?" he asked, for George had stopped at the base of the steps.

"In a minute. I forgot to get something." He went back into the shop and looked around for the gumball. Retrieving it from the shelf, he examined it closely. There, written in tiny flowing scrip was a name. "EEK! Joke Products?" he read, puzzled. He wondered if she had been thinking of starting her own joke shop. That would mean she was only here to spy on them. Yet, he could not think it of her. Then again, she was very clever.

A yawn told him it was time to go to sleep. He would ask her about it tomorrow. When he reached their bedroom in the flat, he confided his suspicions in Fred. "Tomorrow," he said with a yawn.

"Tomorrow," George echoed.

A bright, but watery sun rose early the next morning. Stumbling around, still half-asleep, the twins managed to get into their magenta robes without too much damage to their surroundings. They made their way to the shop and unlocked the front door. Not too long after, Verity showed up.

As she stepped into the store, George peeked down the street to look for Elaine. She was nowhere to be seen. Then, with a tiny crack, she appeared, looking out of breath and slightly harried. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, tucking several fly-away strands of her hair behind her ear. "Had some trouble waking up this morning. Took a gerbil nibbling on my ear to get me up." George noticed a tiny cut on her ear.

"Gerbils?"

"Yes, they are quite intelligent. They make wonderful house keepers as well. They'd probably make good messengers if they didn't dislike the cold so much." Elaine stepped into the shop. Suddenly both twins were at her elbows and guided her into the back room. They sat her on a chair and glowered down at her.

"We've got some questions for you."

She sat and stared back at them. "Ask away."

George opened his mouth to reach the question delicately, but Fred beat him to it. And asked in a very blunt manner. "Are you spying on us for your joke shop?"

She looked thoroughly confused for a moment. "Oh, you're referring to EEK! Joke Products, aren't you? It's my trademark. Elaine Emma Kellswater. EEK. I have no desire to start a joke shop. And anyway, there is no way it would do as good as yours."

She caught them off guard. "So you're- you're not here to spy on us?"

"Absolutely not! Didn't I just say that? I'm here because I needed the money." Catching their looks she added, "I needed the money paid by this job. It's about the only thing I'm good at." She sounded sad for a moment, then in a very Mrs. Weasley-ish voice, said, "Now, I am going to do that job. We've wasted enough time already today."

Elaine stood up and left to help Verity, who they could hear was having trouble with several large boxes. "What do you think?" Fred asked George, who was staring speculatively after her.

"Now I'm sure I've talked to her sometime before," he said instead of answering. Catching Fred's look, he shrugged and replied, "I think she's fine for now. If we think she's up to something, we can always hex her."

"Works for me. Let's go. Lots of orders to fill this morning already."

The staff at Weasley Wizard Wheezes had a busy morning, filling hundreds of orders from students at Hogwarts and elsewhere. Verity took a break midmorning, feeling exhausted. Elaine picked up the slack without any problem. George went to tally how much Instant Darkness Powder they had left and saw her carrying a large box in her thin arms.

"Whoa. Let me get that," he said, worried she would drop it.

Her eyes narrowed to slits and she glared at him. "I am quite capable of handling this myself, thank you."

"It looks heavy," he suggested again.

"I am rather stronger than I look. I can do this on my own."

He watched as she went by. He noticed what he had assumed was struggling, was her actually slightly dancing to the music she was apparently hearing in her head. He raised an eyebrow, but did nothing more than watch her progress. With a start, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Before he could go look, Elaine was back.

"We've run out of Instant Darkness Powder. There is a shipment tomorrow, though."

"Great. Thank you." He returned to the order room feeling slightly dejected. She was just too efficient. She seemed to have an interminable supply of energy. He went to the master order sheet. He tapped the listing for Instant Darkness Powder once, and added to it was a little note saying "temproray delay."

"That's a clever bit of magic." Elaine had come up behind him in the room. "It goes like that onto all the order sheets, right?"

"Um, yes."

"Neat." She walked away again.

Verity approached Elaine. "I'll take that off your hands. It's your day to make lunch." She consulted a schedule posted to a wall. "Here's how you get into the flat so you can use the kitchen." Verity leaned close and whispered something into the other witch's ear.

"Thanks. I'll do that right now." She found the shelf and walked up into the kitchen of the flat.

Verity struggled into the order room, carrying the box she had taken from Elaine. She set it down with a grateful sigh. "Verity, where's Elaine?" George asked.

"She's making lunch. I set her up on the schedule."

His eyes got wide for a moment, then he ran to the shelf and the flat. He burst in the kitchen to be greeted by a delicious aroma. Elaine was at the stove, stirring a pot of stew. "I'm not real good at those homey spells, like soup from the wand. I never got the knack of them." She threw in a pinch of some herb.

"Where did you get those? We don't have herbs around here." In fact, they had been practically living off of sandwiches, that being all they knew how to make that was edible.

"The seasonings? I brought them from home. I carry things like that around in my bag. You never know when you're going to need them." She tasted the stew from the wooden spoon. "Does this taste alright to you? I think it's missing something."

Surprised, he walked over to where she stood. He took the spoon carefully and cautiously sipped from the end. It was delicious. "Wow. That's really good," he said, when he was reasonably sure she hadn't just poisoned him.

"Thanks." She beamed at him. "I did the best I could with what I had. Your kitchen is so pathetically stocked. I'll pick up some real food for tomorrow." She tossed a little bit of some green leaf into the pot. She tasted it again. "Perfect."

She ladled it out into four bowls. "Let me get a couple of those," George offered.

"It's alright, I've got them." She levitated the bowls and guided them down the stairs. George followed, his stomach growling at the thought of something other than a sandwich.

Fred started a little as a bowl of stew landed in front of his face. "Hey, what's – that smells delicious!" He tasted some tentatively. "Yum!" he said, then shoveled it in. Verity did the same, albeit in a more refined manner.

"You are making breakfast, lunch, and dinner from now on!" George said, he mouth full.

"I'm glad you like it," she replied hesitantly. The next thing she knew, she had three empty bowls thrust at her.

"Tell me there is more," Fred said in a mock serious tone.

Elaine looked taken aback. "Certainly." She waved her wand and the pot came floating down the stairs as she opened the hidden door to let it through. She ladled out three more portions. Then, sitting back down on her stool, finished her first portion. In no time flat, the pot was mostly empty. Fred and George shoved each other for the privilege of licking the pot. George won. The bowl was licked clean.

The afternoon was spent producing products. At least the ones created by the Weasely twins. After checking to make sure Elaine could do a proper and fairly powerful shield charm, they set her to work on the shield objects. Though speaking was not required, the shop was not silent. In fact, it was quite loud.

Elaine and George were having a discussion pertaining to her gerbils. "How can you like them if they bite you all the time?"

"Well, I'd like them a lot less if it wasn't necessary. You see, they have to bite me to get me up in the mornings. 'Sides, it's really easy to heal. You dislike owls when they bite you for no reason, don't you?"

"Yes."

"My gerbils bite me for a reason. I don't hold it against them. Although," she added ruefully, rubbing her ear, "sometimes I wish they were a little gentler."

George laughed. "From what I've seen, a little gentler wouldn't get you up in the morning."

"True, that. There, I'm finished."

"Already? Then, can you make multiples of the gum thing you had?"

"Certainly. I made it easy to duplicate with a single spell." She waved her wand as though directing and orchestra. The gumballs divided again and again. Then, with a final flick of her wand, she sent them flying into an empty bucket, returning the original one to her hand.

"That was supposed to take longer than that," George pouted. "I guess that's all we have for you to do today. You can go home now."

"Naw, I think I'll fix all of you dinner, as none of you seem to know how to cook. I'm going to run to the supermarket down the road to get some decent food." Elaine grabbed her bag and left the shop. Once outside, she headed for the Leaky Cauldron and the way out of Diagon Alley.

There was that permeating fog that had persisted all summer darkening the sky. She felt the dreadful cold that always accompanied dementors. "Great," she said angrily. "Just what I need."

She stopped and waited for the dementors she knew would be coming. Slowly she turned around to face the dementor hovering behind her. She smiled at it. Summoning the happiest thought she could, she yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" A silvery tiger flew out of her wand tip, looking ready to rip the dementor to shreds. It backed off slowly.

As soon as it was out of sight again, Elaine lowered her wand. However, the silver tiger did not fade, but instead loped along at her side as she ran for the supermarket. Fortunately, she didn't meet any more dementors along the way. She let the tiger fade as she approached the store doors.

Deciding, for the moment, that only the essentials would be necessary at this time, she went around gathering them up. It was starting to get late and she wanted to be back at the shop before anything else happened. She gave an involuntary shudder as she thought about meeting more dementors. They had been a frightening enough idea when they guarded Azkaban, but now that they were serving Lord Voldemort, it chilled her to the bone.

Outside the supermarket again, she conjured her Patronus and ran back for the shop. She was concentrating on not tripping so hard, only her Patronus stepping in front of her stopped her from running right into the Death Eaters. She scowled at them. "Getting your arses whooped last time wasn't enough, eh? Come back for more? Bring it on, freaks." She settled back onto her feet, wand held outstretched.

**First Harry Potter fic...please review and critique. **


	2. Death Eater Doomed

**So sorry it took so long! But here it is!**

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Chapter 2: Death Eater Doom

Elaine spun and slashed her wand. Expecting the same spell as the last time they had faced off, they put up shield charms. But she had only conjured a simple silver sword. She slid into a fencing stance. Surprised, the Death Eaters dropped their shields. Being wizards, they thought physical devices such as swords were crude and nothing to worry about. Big mistake. She darted in, slamming the sword into one of the Death Eater's shoulders.

He dropped to the ground, screaming in pain and unable to use his wand arm. The other two were wary of the silver blade now. One raised his wand to block a stroke and found it sliced neatly in two and blood welling from a cut in his chest. She backed off and spun the sword in her hand. She lunged at the Death Eater's neck and he raised his shield charm to protect there. In mid-lunge, she flipped the sword up and caught it so the point was facing down. She smashed it into her enemy's knee, shattering the bone.

She tucked her hair back behind her ear and returned the sword to her wand. "Now go and tell your master how you lost to a little girl." Aiming a final vicious kick at the nearest Death Eater, she strode away.

Elaine stepped through the door into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and locked it behind her. "Everything okay, Elaine?" George asked, stepping out from behind a couple shelves behind her.

She jumped, startled and faced him. "Everything is fine, why do you ask?" she replied, too quickly to be calm.

"Neat Patronus," he said by way of explanation.

"Oops." She waved her wand and the silver tiger disappeared. "Well, I did run into a dementor on the way."

"Anything else? It doesn't take that long to go to the store."

"Oh, alright! I met the three Death Eaters I got rid of yesterday."

"You better watch out for yourself. Attacking Death Eaters is like asking for trouble."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were almost worried. Well, don't be. I can take care of myself just fine. And I live for trouble." Glowering at him, she picked up her bags of food and went up to the flat to prepare dinner.

Soon enough, closing time came. "I left lasagna on the stove for you. See you tomorrow." Elaine and Verity left together again. They met no trouble on the way to Verity's house. When she set off on her own, Elaine conjured her Patronus again. She didn't like people to know how scared she got at times. She stepped into her door and set all the usual protections about her little house.

Collapsing gratefully into her cushy armchair in front of the warm fire, she gave a contented sigh. A white gerbil clambered up her arm and perched on her shoulder. "'Lo, Shiromi." At the sound of her voice, several other gerbils followed suit. A dark golden one with long whiskers, Hige, clambered onto her head. Piper, the light gold and white one and the smallest of the bunch, curled up in her sleeve. Nutmeg, with her little tan spot on her naturally colored back, was digging through Elaine's bag. Jerika, who looked as though she came directly from the wild, was watching out the window. Closer to the fire was Albright, another naturally colored gerbil. She and her sister Jenny, a soft grey with a black tail, were working together to fold clothes. The males were less helpful. Dagen, a completely grey gerbil, was curled up in front of the fire, asleep. His brother Marc was stuffing his face with seeds from the huge food bowl. Their other brother, Kendrick or Kenny for short, was buffing himself up on the running wheel on the table.

Gerbils alone were not Elaine's only pets. Her cat, Mugwy (mug-why), a tortoiseshell, was watching the gerbils with mild interest, saving his attention for the other cat, Patches. She was white, black, and ginger, with large green eyes. She was in the kitchen, standing lookout over the ferret, Taw, who was cooking pasta for dinner.

Knocking at the door ruined her evening of perfect relaxation. Irritably, she stood up. All the gerbils but Shiromi jumped off. The white gerbil stayed perched like a bird. She peeked through the window. It was a Ministry official. She opened the door slowly. "Wha'd you lot want?"

"You performed a Patronus charm in the middle of a Muggle street. I am here to ascertain if that allegation is correct." The little old man had a wheezy sort of voice.

"Gee, let's see. The only place 'round here that is not a Muggle street is bloody Diagon Alley! Sure, I performed a Patronus. I am over seventeen years of age and there were no Muggles present. Now, go pester someone else." Elaine shut the door in the stumpy wizard's face.

He knocked again. "Am I to presume you will not attend a hearing?"

"Damn right you are."

"Then I suggest a compromise. I will give you a citation and you will try to refrain from casting unnecessary spells for the period of one month."

"Fine. Give me the stupid citation and let me get back to dinner." The wizard handed her a slip of parchment.

"Have a good evening, ma'am." She shut the door in his face again.

"Fat chance of that. You make one mistake and they never let you forget it. Instead of worrying about me, why don't they hunt down those Death Eaters that seem to follow me around?" she complained to her gathered assortment of pets. There were several nods of agreement. A delicious aroma wafted out from the kitchen. "Yum," she muttered as she let her nose guide her to the table.

The next morning, she was awake, even before her pets came to wake her up. She was thinking, standing fully dressed before her upstairs window. It seemed to her that Scrimgeour had not forgotten their last meeting. That had not been her fault, but he had insisted it was. Her eyes flashed dangerously at the thought of the now Minister of Magic. She had had a strange urge to snarl at and bite the man on their previous encounter.

He had been a little sore about the fact she had figured out how to remove her Trace and wouldn't tell him how she'd done it. But that wasn't what had made him very angry with her. It was more along the way of dark magic. And, she thought darkly, that stupid amulet didn't even belong to me!

Feeling murderous at the memory, she banished it from her mind and focused on the leaves down below. As soon as she felt suitable calm again, she walked slowly down the stairs. After missing breakfast yesterday, she decided she didn't want to miss it again today. From the smell, she determined Taw had prepared pancakes, a specialty of his. Watching the floor in front of her, she made her way to the kitchen. The dangerous thing about having small animals running about the house was the risk of stepping on one.

Just outside the kitchen door, she stooped and poured some food into the gerbil bowl. She stood up again and opened the door slowly, so that anything on the other side had time to get out of the way. From the refrigerator, she retrieved a small plastic tub containing homemade cat food. This she emptied into a large bowl on the windowsill. She didn't need to make Taw any food; he made his own.

A glance at the clock told her that, despite her good intentions, she was going to be late again. Fortunately, she could Apparate, so if she wolfed breakfast down, she might still make it on time. It was also good fortune that the pancakes could be folded many times over and eaten in one monstrous bite. In about four minutes, the pancakes had all at least entered her mouth. Elaine stood up and, spinning on the spot, Disapparated.

She had timed it perfectly, although accidentally. She arrived exactly at the same time as Verity, who had walked. Together they tried the door, only to find it was locked. There was a crashing noise from the interior of the shop and a mop of red hair could be seen through the window. A couple seconds later, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Verity went to help an out-of-breath Fred get up off the ground where he had fallen after apparently having barreled down the stairs from the flat in a rush to open the door.

"Sorry, mates. Didn't get up when we were supposed to." Fred turned apologetically to both witches in turn. Not a minute later, George fell down the steps, landing on the floor, face first, still snoring slightly. Elaine felt tiny claws digging into her shoulder and noticed her white gerbil, Shiromi had come with her. The little rodent was always trying to come with her out of the house. Not that she wanted to leave her mistress when she finally made it outside the house. It was too cold.

"Go get him, Romi." The gerbil skittered down her arm and leapt off from her hand. Shiromi nipped George on the ear. Not too hard, not even hard enough to draw blood. George yelped and shot his body up into a sitting position. The white gerbil sprinted smartly away from her victim and back to the warmth of Elaine's shoulder.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" he bellowed, reminiscent of Ron.

"That was quite a bit softer wake up call than I usually get," Elaine said, smile glowing on her face.

It took George a moment to figure out what she meant. When he finally did, he said, "Alright then. Where's the bloody monster that did it, then?"

"Shiromi. The bad little one that hitched a ride on my shoulder out of the house this morning. Also the one that seems to think she's a bird." George watched how the animal perched on the witch's shoulder seemed to be contrite while she was being admonished. She seemed to know exactly what Elaine was saying.

"As long as she doesn't get in the way, she can hang around today," George said, rubbing his ear. "Off to work, people."

The day passed by in a flash. Just before closing time, a customer arrived. In person. And alone. Elaine was cleaning the counter where they had had a love potion spill. Verity was in charge of doing the potions and was quite adept at it. Her sleeve had brushed on of the bottle sitting on the counter and knocked it over. It hadn't been sealed yet and spilled all over the wood. The bell on the door tinkled quietly as it opened.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Can I help you with anything?" she sang out, pulling the phrase from memory. Elaine scrutinized the stocky man carefully. He didn't look like he meant any good. Out of sight, her wand raised slightly.

"I'm looking for the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder." His voice was gruff and sounded as though he was partially trying to disguise it. Or else his throat had nearly been crushed. She did a once over on the man. The three Death Eaters that she had incapacitated had been the third bunch to come after her. In one of the first couple, she had almost crushed one's windpipe. "The Instant Darkness Powder?" he inquired again, thinking she had spaced out on him.

"I heard you the first time," she snapped, angry at him for interrupting her train of thought. But, he was right. Back to the Instant Darkness Powder. They had indeed gotten a huge shipment in earlier that day. However, she didn't want to sell it to someone who could be a Death Eater. Time to be cunning. "I'll take you to it."

As she stepped around the end of the counter, she pretended to stumble on the hem of her robe. Unwillingly, because he had no control over his reflexes (that was what she was counting on), the man caught her. She grabbed his left sleeve and because he had caught her with that arm, she was hanging partially over it. She got a quick glimpse of a Dark Mark. It wasn't a fake one, someone trying to pass themselves off as a Death Eater to avoid being murdered; it had the malevolent and sinister aura of a true one. Elaine would know; she'd seen enough of them during her childhood.

"Thankee kindly, sir," she said, stalling for time. "I'll just check the records to see if we have any in stock."

"I thought you were going to show me where they are at."

"Was I?" She looked thoroughly confused. She could tell the ploy was working; the man himself was unsure he had heard right the first time. To stop any further protests, she grabbed a clipboard from behind the counter. "Yes. Um-hmm. That's interesting," she said, as if reading the shipment list.

"What's interesting?" the man asked, trying to look over her shoulder at the parchment.

"Only that we were supposed to get a shipment in today, but it never arrived. Bad weather in Peru, unfortunately. They were unable to ship anything out."

"I'll just have a look around the rest of the shop, then."

Elaine didn't trust him. "Why don't you start over there?" She pointed to the back room. Smiling, the man went the other way. As soon as he had gone around the corner, she smiled and walked to the back room. He had fallen for the simplest of psychological tricks. Who did he think he was messing with? She was a master at psychological manipulation.

While the man was looking in the one part of the shop, she removed all the Instant Darkness Powder from the shelf. It had taken them nearly all afternoon to put them up, but staying late was a fair price to pay to keep Voldemort's cronies from gaining weapons. She had just finished covering up the packets she had dumped into a barrel with the original contents of the barrel, when the Death Eater came around the corner.

"As you can see, sir, the shelves are empty. We have no Instant Darkness Powder."

Unfortunately, George had heard this part of the exchange and came out of the workshop. "But Elaine-" he began. Then he noticed the look she was giving him. "But Elaine, I thought we had a shipment coming in today?" he amended.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley. Bad weather in Peru. They contacted me, I'm afraid, and I forgot to inform you."

"Well, just tell me next time."

The man watched this exchange suspiciously. However, satisfied at least that they were telling the truth, he nodded and headed for the door. As soon as he was out of earshot, George hissed, "Tell me why you just wasted an afternoon's work and why you had me lie to a customer!"

"Death Eater," she said out of the corner of her mouth. Understanding instantly, George backed away. She seemed to have some personal vendetta against the Death Eaters and it was dangerous to get in the way. Not to mention a strange amount of bad luck concerning the Death Eaters as well. He'd never seen anyone targeted so much and not taken care of by Lord Voldemort personally. The Death Eater left, surprisingly without having taken anything.

Elaine took off after him, wand held aloft and ready. "Yo, old man!" The Death Eater turned slowly around. To him is seemed as though the simple shopgirl had suddenly turned on him. He couldn't imagine why; it wasn't as though she could possibly know he was a Death Eater. Although, she did look a little familiar. That Weasley boy had also called her "Elaine", the name of the target he'd been sent after once.

Suddenly he was dangling in the air. Instantly he knew who she was. He recognized the spell. The short hair and magenta robes had thrown him off. He had been in the first group hunting her. She had had longer hair then. She had mortally wounded all of them. Only gasping a quick healing spell had kept him from dying along with his partners.

"Why don't you freaks ever die?" said a high, cold voice. It was the girl. Elaine was furious beyond reckoning by this point. "Rictasempra!" she said suddenly, and ropes began to bind the Death Eater. "Wait here, my enemy. The Aurors should be by pretty soon to pick you up."

Elaine stepped back in the shop. George was still standing where he had been when she had left. "Since we're going to be staying later to fix the Instant Darkness Powder, I'll make dinner." She bounced up the steps to the flat. He figured it must have gone well. For her at least. Likely not for the Death Eater.

All too soon, the work was done, the dinner eaten. Verity had already left, heading home at the normal time. "Romi! Time to go home!" Shromi hopped lightly up her arm to resume her shoulder position.

"You were right when you said they make excellent house keepers. Bring her back some time; she was a great help with the filing!" George laughed as Elaine gathered up her bag.

"I'll think about it. G'night." She stepped out into the street. The Death Eater was gone, with the Ministry, for she could pick up no traces of dark magic in the area. She left Diagon Alley.

Elaine let her feet carry her home. Her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking of her grandmother, the one who had cared for her since her mother died shortly before she went to Hogwarts. Her grandmother had been killed in her seventh year, last year as a matter of fact, by Death Eaters, or possibly even Voldemort himself. The Ministry had refused to investigate the death, not only because they were going through that time of rejecting the idea he was back, but because she had been perfectly calm at the time of her death. They wrote it off as old age.

The problem was Elaine had recognized the look on her grandmother's face in the photo they had shown her. Nothing ever fazed Acrua Kellswater, least of all Lord Voldemort. She had never feared him, only been disgusted with him. The look she had died with was one of projected calm, with the barest traces of disappointment beneath them. It was the closest her grandmother ever came to being angry. And despite her feeble appearance, Acrua could have taken on any Death Eater that had come calling. That just left Lord Voldemort. Elaine refused to call him "you-know-who" or "he who must not be named". She agreed with the assessment that the fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself. She hated Voldemort with a passion, but wasn't afraid of him. Call her foolish, call her brave, it didn't matter to her; she just blindly hated him.

Since then, she had had an intense dislike for anything to do with the Dark Arts. And she had inherited her grandfather's insane temper. She could get angrier than anyone on the face of the planet. And in such a state she was particularly dangerous, as she could no longer recognize friend from foe. For the first time in her life, she had felt jealous and resentful of Harry Potter, the one that had gotten rid of Lord Voldemort the first time, and the one that was constantly meeting up with him. What she wouldn't give for the chance to talk face to face with the Dark Lord. Although, she would probably snarl at him instead of talk, but that's beside the point.

Elaine wished and wished that her grandmother was still alive. Shiromi, picking up on her mood, snuggled a little closer to her neck, ticking Elaine with her soft fur. Unable to keep from smiling, Elaine let out a little giggle. Her pets always knew how to cheer her up. When she reached her doorstep, Mugwy opened the door for her. He was a clever little kitty when he wasn't too lazy to do anything. Yawning, she stretched out in the armchair in front of the roaring fire. The animals all dozed around her and on her. Without realizing how tired she was, she dozed off, falling asleep in the chair.

* * *

**I have to apologize in advance; I am currently not in possetion of either my book 6 or my book 7...grrrrrrr...So it might take me a little while longer to get the next chapter out. -sob- **


	3. Christmastime in the Animal House

**I got book six back Yay! X) . I'm happy now...so here's the next chapter!**

Chapter 3: Christmastime in the Animal House

The weeks and months passed. It was nearly Christmas and the orders were coming in hard and fast despite the blowing snow. That meant the staff of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was busy from dawn to dusk, filling and sending off orders. Elaine was in charge of attaching the packages to the owls because of her natural way with animals. Fred was keeping the records and George was constantly producing products. Verity was rushing here and there, bringing items, helping those rare customers that popped in.

"We could really use your troupe of animals today, Elaine," Fred commented, stretching his arms.

It was the last day they were open until after Christmas, so many frantic customers and harried owls were arriving.

"The 'troupe of animals' as you put it, are decorating the house for Christmas. It's their favorite time of the year and I'm not going to make them stop and come do my job. Besides, with all the owls around, the gerbils might get eaten."

"True, I suppose."

"Well, we're almost done here, anyway. What about you? Do you and George have any plans for Christmas?"

"Well, we thought we'd spend it with the family. Mum made us promise. Verity mentioned something about spending it with family too. I can't say I blame her. Mothers are very keen to keep their kids close these days. What about you? Are you going to visit family for Christmas?"

"I think I might drop by. I'm spending Christmas with my pets, though. They're my family for the most part." Elaine counted to ten in her mind to keep from crying. When she said dropping by, she meant she would stop by her grandmother's grave. The graveyard would be lovely, covered in a white blanket of snow, hiding the sorrow and suffering that seemed to radiate from the graves. She didn't care to visit her mother's grave; she despised the woman that had made her childhood a living hell.

She still hadn't told the Weasley twins about her family. Nor had she planned to. The less people that knew about her past, the better. In the past months, she had cursed and injured two more groups of Death Eaters. On many more occasions, they had tried to rob the store of Instant Darkness Powder (which for some reason held great appeal to Lord Voldemort). And on those occasions, Elaine's spell on the door had proved its worth. No one had yet discovered the counter-spell to release their comrades from the spell. Whenever she had cast it upon her attackers, even Voldemort had to break the spell by the sheer force of one of his own.

Fred and George had woken in the morning on these occasions to find the thieves floating outside the door. Elaine had by now added another part to the spell. Once caught, the Death Eaters could shout themselves hoarse if they wanted to, but they couldn't be moved except by the witch herself. So they couldn't be dragged back to Lord Voldemort to have the spell removed.

Of course Lord Voldemort knew this and only sent minor Death Eaters to perform these activities. Minor Death Eaters could be sacrificed in the likely event they failed and if they succeeded, so much the better.

At last, the final owl sent away and the customers shooed out of the shop, the four exhausted employees collapsed gratefully into chairs around a blazing fireplace. "I'd forgotten about the Christmas rush," Fred said. "At least the rest of the week will be relaxing."

"There are a couple shipments coming in while you're gone, but I'll take care of them since I'll be the one closest to the shop." Elaine yawned. It had been a very long day.

"Thanks," George said, sprawled out over his chair.

"Definitely. You're a lifesaver, Elaine," Verity mumbled, fanning herself with her hand. Her normally neatly arranged blonde hair was falling out of the bands that held it out of her face.

"It's not a problem." Elaine stretched. "But I think I'll head home now. Make sure the house isn't completely covered in decorations." With that, she stood up and grabbed her bag off the floor.

"You're not going to make us dinner tonight?" George asked.

She smiled. "Not tonight Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley. I did leave you a recipe and everything you need to fix it. And trust me when I say it's very simple. It's something even you can handle."

Verity stood up, too. "I'm off as well. I need to grab my bags from my house before heading to my Mum's place."

The two witches left, fighting their way through the Christmas crowds wandering around Diagon Alley, despite the pervading chill and knowledge of Voldemort's return. Fred and George slowly stood up and went up to the flat. George picked up the recipe sitting on the counter. He laughed. "She's got a sense of humor," he said as he showed it to Fred. The recipe was for sandwiches. They made them following the instructions exactly. They were the best sandwiches they had ever had.

Elaine approached her house with a smile. The cats had hung lights along the roof. She could only imagine what the neighbors' had thought of that. Entering the house was like stepping into a cave filled with crystal, bright, twinkling, and shiny. The large tree in the corner of the living room was covered in tinsel and garlands of crystals. There was even one made of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit: the gerbils' food. She understood the reason for this. Christmas evening was spent eating the garlands from the tree and watching their favorite movies. This generally took the entire day and night as each critter had a favorite. Fortunately, all the movies picked were semi-favorites at least of all the other animals.

Taw always prepared something surprising each year. One year, it had been accurate models of everyone in the household out of cake. That had been when her grandmother had been alive still. Another year, he had taken his favorite Famous Witches and Wizards card and made a life-size model of the witch out of sweets. Last year she had been unable to return home because her grandmother was dead and she was still under seventeen years of age. Still, Taw had sent her an edible family photo. It was so life like, she hadn't wanted to eat it. This year, opening the door, Elaine stepped into a gingerbread Diagon Alley. And houses. Taw had used his artistic license to add residences to the model. Running down the scaled streets were the pets.

She picked Taw up and gave him a huge squeeze. It was so easy to forget he was a ferret sometimes. Sometimes she wished the animals could talk in her language. A delicious smell drifted from the kitchen. Christmas dinner. Elaine leaned over and collected all the small animals. The small square oak table was groaning under the weight of all the food. Surprising herself, she let out a laugh.

Her chair was on one side. The other chairs that had belonged to the set had been moved around the other three sides of the table. It must have taken the animals nearly all day to move them from the other room. Patches sat regally in one of the chairs, plate of catfood sitting in front of her. Next to her chair had been placed a stepladder, on which Mugwy was seated. Across from them, Taw made a short jump and landed on the other chair. Books had been stacked on this to make it easy from the ferret to eat from his plate. She saw he even had set himself up silverware. Across from her chair was the last chair. Across its arms, a thick plank had been laid. The gerbils crawled onto this. In front of each of them was a bowl of their food.

Elaine sat down. Taw started the dinner by grabbing a piece of chicken. Everyone else dug in. Soon the table was cleared of all but empty plates and bowls. Everyone was leaning back, stomachs bulging. Elaine stood up slowly and stretched. She wandered into the living room. Settling into her armchair, she turned on the television.

A short time later, she was covered in a blanket of furry animals. Outside the window, snow began drifting down. Had any of the sleepy creatures in the chair bothered to look outside, they would have seen the suspicious looking man hanging on the nearby street corner. His dark robes would have reminded them of a judge's. As it was, everyone in the armchair drifted slowly off to sleep.

Elaine opened her eyes the next morning to soft white light filtering in the window. All about her, the animals were still sleeping. Silently, she rearranged them on the chair so they would not notice her absence. She climbed the stairs and entered her room.

Two minutes later, she was back down and dressed for the cold weather. Her nice down-filled long coat was tucked tight about her, covering her lavender sweater and the tops of her jeans. On her feet were fur-lined snow boots. In one arm was her snowboard and in the other was a bunch of daisies. Her head was topped with a bright magenta knit cap. She had grown attached to the color recently. Elaine pushed open the front door just enough to slide out.

She slid her feet into the straps on her snowboard, and pushed off, making the first tracks in the freshly fallen snow. Behind her, an odd-shaped lump of snow stood up and shook itself off. The man concealed beneath became visible. He took one look at the snowboard tracks and groaned. Then he started to run.

Elaine was far ahead, taking all the backstreets so she could continue to go downhill. Finally, she pulled up to a stop in front of a short gate of metal spikes. She stepped quickly out of the straps on her snowboard and stood, looking at the graveyard. As she had expected, the graves were covered by snow. To anyone who didn't know what lay there, it could just be a small field of little hills.

Capturing a mental snapshot of the graveyard, she pushed the gate open. It squeaked and protested, but yielded to her push. Her boots left large holes in the snow. Despite being unable to see the names on the graves, she knew where her grandmother's was. Nestled beneath a large weeping willow, it was mostly free of snow. Elaine stopped next to the stone and laid the daisies on the snow in front of the gravestone.

"Merry Christmas, Grandmother. You'd be proud of me; I've taken on several Death Eaters single-handedly and won. I know you wouldn't want me to seek revenge, though. But I'm sorry. I need to. I need to make him suffer." The graveyard was silent. A single tear slipped down her cheek. Elaine sat there, staring off into the distance for a very long time. Her watch beeped. With a start, she looked down at it.

"Damn!" She leapt up and ran for the gate. She shoved it closed half-heartedly, then stepped back on her snowboard. Going uphill might seem a little strange, but she had charmed the board. She pushed off and sped on up the hill. The strange man that had been following her was being confronted by a policeman.

"Sir, I think you've got the wrong holiday. It's Christmas, mate, not Halloween."

"No, I think I'm dressed just right, stupid Muggle!"

The policeman did not know what a Muggle was, but he got the impression he had just been insulted. "Now, mister, I'm going to have to take you in." The man gave a start when he saw Elaine speed by on her snowboard.

"Damn! I don't have time for this, you idiot." He started to run, but the policeman caught his arm. "Let go of me!" he hissed through clenched teeth. Surprised, the policeman dropped his arm. The man ran up the hill after the snowboarder going up the hill. Strange thing to see a snowboarder in the city. Especially one going uphill, the policeman thought. But he let it go and the next minute had forgotten all about the weird incident.

Elaine stopped out front of her house. Quickly, she stepped off the snowboard and picked it up. Standing in front of her door, she shook off any snow that might have settled on her body. Then she zipped into the door. Instead of returning the snowboard to her room, she leaned it on the door. She wasn't expecting any visitors, anyway. She tugged off her coat and hung it on the stair railing before kicking off her boots and plopping down into the armchair. The Christmas movie marathon had already begun.

During this time, everyone in the house opened their presents. Elaine had received a box of jokeshop products from the Weasley twins, a chocolate sculpture from Taw, a box of various sweets from Verity, a newly embroidered shirt from the gerbils, a new hat from the cats, and a little silver ring from the old man that had stopped by. That one had puzzled her to no end. The card simply said "Thanks and Merry Christmas". She knew who the man was; everyone knew who he was. Still he had no reason to send her a present.

She in turn had given the Wealsey twins each a puzzle box, Verity charmed barrettes to help keep her hair up, the gerbils thread and a sweater to chew up for soft bedding, the cats new yarn and toys, and Taw a cookbook. The pets were engrossed in the movie that they were watching. Elaine was so engrossed she wasn't even eating her garland. Behind them, unnoticed by all, the doorknob began to turn.

The man that had been following Elaine yanked open the door. The snowboard stood on it's end for a moment, then fell. With a crash it landed on the man's head as he watched it with disbelief. Fourteen heads swivelled to stare at the body on the floor. Elaine extricated herself from the chair and walked slowly over to him. She grabbed his left arm and ripped the sleeve open. A Dark Mark gleamed ebony on his arm.

"I'd just throw you out of my house and into the arms of the Ministry, but you know where I live and I can't risk Voldemort finding out," she told the prone form. There was only one way to ensure Voldemort did not rip the information from the Death Eater's mind. It was to kill him. That was a given. The only thing left to do was to decide how best to go about it. _Avada Kedavra_ was out of the question. Dementors wouldn't do the job right. She could always make him attack someone.

Mugwy solved the problem for her. Angry that his movie had been disturbed, he pounced on the Death Eater and ripped his throat out. Elaine prided herself on her strong constitution, but the mess this made nearly caused her to hurl. The man would not die right away, but would spend his last two minutes oxygen-starved. She Disapparated him to some abandoned moor and left him there. No sooner than she had disappeared, than Lord Voldemort himself arrived. The Death Eater was nearly dead. Using Legilimency, he ripped into the man's memories. All he could get before the man died was an image of what the house looked like. It would have to do.

The rest of Christmas day passed without incident. Elaine left the animals to their movies and climbed the stairs. It had been a long day and she was tired. She laid down on the bed without even bothering to change clothes. There's a shipment coming in tomorrow, she reminded herself before drifting slowly off to sleep.

Tonight she dreamt. She did not usually dream, but tonight she did.

_"Elaine, get the door!" he mother called. Someone was knocking on the door. _

_Elaine wandered over to the door and opened it. Bellatrix Lestrange stood there, looking impatient. "Girl, where's your mother?"_

_"What do you want?" Elaine said, about to slam the door in her face._

_"I wouldn't do that, girl," said Bellatrix in a dangerous voice. Elaine scowled and rolled her eyes. It was hard enough to put up with Death Eaters when they were in a good mood. Bellatrix raised a hand and smacked her hard in the face._

_Even though she barely reached Bellatrix's knee, Elaine raised a tiny fist in answer, but before she could strike back, a woman stepped into the hallway from the grubby little kitchen. She had long, curly brown hair piled a top her head. "You got my message then, Bellatrix," said Jenevra Kellswater. "Elaine, go clean up the kitchen." _

_Despite being very young, she was very intelligent, so instead of doing as she was told, she peered around the edge of the kitchen door to hear what was being said. "If anyone would know anything about the Dark Lord's whereabouts, it would be the Longbottoms," Jenevra was telling Bellatrix. _

_"Are you sure about that, Jenevra?"_

_"Have I ever given you bad information, Bellatrix?"_

_"I suppose not. Very well. I don't suppose you can tell me their location?"_

_Elaine's mother smiled. "At their house. Looking after their little son."_

_Bellatrix laughed. "Oh goody!" She started to turn around when she spotted Elaine. Jenevra saw her at the same time. Being closer to Elaine, she reached her before the Death Eater. She grabbed the little girl's ear and yanked hard. _

_"Elaine! What do you think you're doing, you stupid girl! I told you to clean the kitchen!" Jenevra had conveniently forgotten her daughter didn't have a wand and couldn't reach to tops of the counters. She dragged Elaine by the ear to her room, which was little more than a cupboard. "I'll deal with you later!"_

Elaine sat up so fast she nearly sent Patches, who had been sleeping on her chest, flying. She was breathing hard, wild-eyed. Then, taking deep, calming breaths, she eased herself back down. It was bad enough she had to deal with those memories when she was awake, let alone when she was asleep and had no defenses. "I thought I fixed this problem," she said, clenching her fist. She gave a sigh and glanced at the clock. Her eyes got wide for a moment, then she leapt out of bed. "Merlin's beard, I'm going to be late!" She threw the magenta robes over her pajamas and thrust her bare feet into a pair of boots sitting by the bed.

She pounded down the stairs and out the front door. No sooner had she closed the door than she had spun on the spot and disappeared. Elaine appeared breathless just outside the shop. She reached for the door handle. Swearing loudly as she remembered that she didn't have a key, she kicked the door. It didn't help the matter, but it sure made her feel better, despite the pain in her foot. From a pocket in her boot, she removed a lock pick kit. Tongue hanging out of the corner of her mouth, she selected her tools and set to work.

It took her a matter of minutes to break in. It never ceased to amaze her that wizards forgot to protect against lock picking the Muggle way. She supposed when you had spells that would do it in a second, it would be more obvious to guard against that type of thing. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Everything was silent still. "The shipment must be late," she said, glancing at the daydream charms. No sooner than the words had left her mouth than the sound of flapping wings announced the arrival of the shipment. With a shrug, she went to go get it.

A couple days later, everyone was back from their respective holidays, and the shop was busy once again. "So Verity, how was your Christmas Holiday?" Elaine said as they took a lunch break.

"Very uneventful. Unless you count the fact my Uncle had a bit too much firewhiskey and went a little loopy. Other than that, it was a very quiet holiday. What about you?"

"Mine was a bit more eventful than that." She told the other three about her holiday. They roared with laughter. "I mean it wasn't even like I put it there on purpose! I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to try and walk in through the door!" Elaine had left out the part about Mugwy killing the Death Eater, though she described what had happened otherwise. "You should have seen the gingerbread Diagon Alley Taw made. It tasted as good as it looked."

"I have a question," George stated. "Did you teach the ferret how to cook or did the ferret teach you how to cook?"

Elaine laughed. "Neither. My grandmother taught me and Taw at the same time. It was quite amusing to watch, actually."

"She could make a fortune selling her food," Fred remarked.

"She's dead. Other than that insignificant fact, you're right." To their surprise, she laughed. Then, changing the subject, asked, "What about your Christmas, bosses?"

"Well, we certainly didn't trap Death Eaters or anything like that. Percy and the Minister of Magic showed up, though. Git," George started.

Before anyone could ask who was the git, Percy or Scrimgeour, Fred spoke up. "Minister was there to coerce Harry into making it look as though he approves what the Ministry is doing. And Percy was just an excuse." Fred picked up where George left off.

"Perce left in a real big hurry after ending up with mashed parsnip on his glasses. I take credit for that."

"No, I did that!"

"Well actually we don't know who really did it; Ginny claimed credit too. Still he's a git and deserved it."

"The Minister of Magic came to your house?" Verity asked, impressed.

"I wouldn't be impressed by that. It was just to get good press and publicity for the Ministry," Elaine answered. "The Minister," she said as if tasting a particularly foul piece of meat, "is a bastard." Her expression formed the one that it did when considering Death Eaters. "I'm glad Harry Potter is smart enough to figure that out."

The twins exchanged looks. Personal vendetta against Death Eaters and the Minister of Magic? That was odd. It certainly made them wonder what side she was really on. Although that did seem to put her on the side of the Order. "So did you get the shipments?"

"Well, I didn't have a key." Elaine paused. "But I was able to break in and receive the shipments."

"When you say break in, do you mean break in?" George looked alarmed.

"I picked the lock."

"Oh." Fred looked at her. "How do you pick a lock?"

Her eyes got wide and a smile crossed her face. "It's a skill employed by Muggle thieves."

"I thought you might have broken all the defensive enchantments."

"Not a chance! I prefer to use unconventional methods to do that kind of thing." She looked about. "Funny thing is, there were no robbery attempts by the Death Eaters over Christmas. It would have been the perfect time, if you ask me. Something fishy is going on." Casting a dark look at the shelves, as if they had betrayed her, she picked up a product inventory. "I'm going to do a double check. They might have found another way in."

After doing a thorough search, Elaine was forced to conclude that nothing was missing or even out place. "Well, there's obviously nothing gone," George told her as she glared around darkly.

"I dunno. It just seems fishy."

He shrugged indecisively. "I suppose. Although it is just possible Lord Voldemort celebrates Christmas, too."

She snorted. "Possible, yes. Likely, no."

"Can't you just enjoy the Death Eater free holiday?"

"Not when I know something is screwy. They want us to get complacent, mark my words."

"Has anyone ever told you, you are excessively paranoid."

She smiled. "As a matter of fact, someone has. Only once. But then he found out my suspicion was right. Never been called that ever since. Of course, you haven't known me long enough to know that."

George looked taken aback. "Just who was this unlucky guy."

She tucked a couple strands of hair behind her ear. "My boyfriend."

"You can't be much older than us. When did you have a boyfriend?"

"At school maybe? Actually it was only a summer thing. Kind of freaked him out though. Oh well," she said brightly, without a trace of regret.

"Um," was all George could think to say.

**'Till next time, mates!**


	4. Spring Love is in the Air

Chapter 4: Spring Love is in the Air

"How'd the visit to Hogsmeade go?" Elaine asked without looking as the twins stepped into the shop.

"Well, it went better for us than for Ron," Fred remarked.

"Yeah, he got poisoned." George rubbed his nose irritably. "And they're not allowed to Hogsmeade anymore."

She turned around to face them at this. "Are you serious? No joke? Why on earth would they do that?"

"Apparently, during the last visit, Katie Bell was Imperiused and brushed a cursed necklace. Really spooked a lot of people."

Verity walked in. "Welcome back, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley."

Elaine frowned. "So does that mean we're still purchasing Zonko's?"

Fred answered this. "It's a possibility, depending on circumstances. But not yet at least."

"Well, anyway, we're done today. We were just leaving as a matter of fact," Verity said, hitching her bag up higher on her shoulder.

"So did you make dinner, Elaine?" George asked, looking hopeful. Her smile swept that hope away.

"You have to learn to cook sometime."

"I was serious," George whined.

"So was I."

"Please."

"Not tonight boys. I have a date."

"A date?! With who?"

"I do have a life outside work, you know. His name is Matt." Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, she followed Verity out of the shop.

George frowned at her back. "You know, sometimes I just don't get her."

"Sometimes?" his twin said, "I'd say all the time."

Elaine Apparated the instant she was outside the shop. She rushed into her house and up the stairs. She flung off the magenta robes, and changed into Muggle clothes. She threw on a chocolate brown long-sleeve, v-neck shirt and a pair of jeans. She put back on the boots she had been wearing that day. Quickly and pointlessly, she ran a bush once through her hair.

The sound of a motorcycle cut through slight tapping of rain on the roof. Elaine slid down the stairs, hurrying to get to the door. She reached it just as the doorbell rang. She pushed the door open and stepped outside. Standing on her porch was a helmeted man, wearing a black riding jacket.

"Matt!" she said and wrapped her arms around his neck. A laugh issued from the helmet as the man lifted it off. He patted his messy brown hair in a vain attempt to flatten it. His blue eyes twinkled brightly in amusement.

He kissed her. "Ready to go for a spin?"

"Of course."

She climbed onto the back of the motorcycle and placed the helmet over her face. Still smiling, Matt replaced his helmet and sat in front of her. Her gunned the engine and sped off. He popped a wheelie and started to drive off into the sky.

"You never told me you charmed the bike!" Elaine shouted over the roar of the motorcycle and the wind.

"You never asked!" he called back.

Verity was closing her window when she saw Matt's motorcycle lift into the sky. Elaine's laugh drifted back. "Is that who I think it is?" she asked herself, amused. Shaking her head, she pulled the curtains shut.

A short time later, the employees of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes found themselves at Dumbledore's funeral. Elaine could hardly believe that earlier in the year her former headmaster had been waiting for her in her house. Yes, it had been Dumbledore who she had met the first night she had started working for the twins. All he'd done was ask her a couple questions regarding her knowledge of Tom Riddle. Not that she knew him personally; she would have been too young while he was still alive. It was mostly information she had picked up listening in on her mother. She had a sneaky suspicion that some how the information she gave Dumbledore had led to his death.

Elaine knew that her mother had made a habit of knowing everything she could about everything, including the Dark Lord's past. Elaine had heard her mother raving about using it to blackmail Lord Voldemort in her last days when she lay delirious. It hadn't made much sense then, but she told Dumbledore everything she had picked up from her mother's senseless rambling. One of the oddest things she remembered, and told him as much, was that Voldemort had returned to a shack in some little village for no reason at all.

So she sat there in her seat, right next to Verity, wondering why she felt the urge to laugh. She twisted her sapphire robes in her hands, thinking about how Dumbledore always knew how to liven up the school. Elaine looked up into the sky and stared out into space.

The weeks that turned spring into summer passed in a flash. Business was up, despite all of the horrid things going on. All too soon it was July. "We've got to do something for the Order, so guard the shop tonight," Fred said as they exited the door. "Not sure when we'll be back. Moody wasn't very clear on that."

"Well, good luck with your mysterious mission," Elaine said, polishing the wood counter one last time.

"I'm sure we can hold the fort here," Verity added, crossing her arms.

"We don't expect anything to happen, but just be on the look out," George called back as they stepped into the street.

"Don't worry. I'm here, aren't I?" Elaine added. That was both a comforting and worrisome thought at the same time. On the one hand, Death Eaters always seemed to be within her immediate area. Still, no Death Eater had gotten the better of her yet.

"Still, be careful. You never know with these things," Fred replied as they went out the door and Apparated.

"I just don't get those two sometimes," Verity muttered.

"I am completely with you on that. We're just as tough as they are. And I don't see why they can't tell us what this mission thing is anyway. We're practically part of the Order!" Elaine grumbled. "It's not our fault they aren't accepting new official members right now."

"Why was that again?"

"Something to do with security I think. With all this crap going on, they don't want the possibility of infiltration by Death Eaters. As if I'd join the people I've spent half my life running from and killing," Elaine scoffed. "Oh I can just see them welcoming me into their ranks."

Verity laughed. "Oh yes, like they'd want the shopkeeper for a couple of bloodtraitors either."

It was Elaine's turn to laugh. She resisted the urge to point out that they very much were likely to want that. After all it represented a direct line to the other side. Still, it felt good to laugh. She'd enjoyed it much too much the past months, always having something to laugh about.

The two witches agreed to wait until the twins returned. It was not a good idea to leave the shop unattended, especially if something big was going down, as the twins had more than hinted at. Then again, it might be the safest time to leave the shop unattended, as all the Death Eaters were likely to be to busy to worry about thieving from a joke shop. Elaine had always figured that trying to rob the store was a last-ditch effort that was more a distraction than anything. Voldemort seemed to have realized it would take personal involvement and wasn't really worth his time.

The minutes ticked slowly by. There were times when Elaine thought her watch had stopped working altogether. The two of them even set to work creating a large supply of products that weren't really needed yet, but it wasn't the same. The shop seemed far to quiet even with the accompanying bangs and booms the came from the creation of the products. Left with nothing much to do, Elaine mechanically polished the counter continually, despite the fact she might have been wearing a dip into the perfectly flat surface.

The next she remembered was waking up, stiff and sore from standing all night and sleeping in such an awkward position, with her head resting on her outstretched arm. She groaned and stretched. She looked about for Verity and saw her leaning against a shelf, asleep. Elaine wondered what had woken her up. She glanced around the shop, mentally taking inventory. Nothing had been taken, at least not that she could see. Thinking it might have been the sound of someone Apparating, she walked over to the door and peered out into Diagon Alley. She couldn't see anyone in the early morning gloom. Giving another suspicious look about the street, she opened the door and stepped out.

There were two figures a little ways down the street. Elaine approached them slowly, her wand ready. She raised it and said "Lumos!" at the same time as one of the figures. The light revealed Fred, George leaning on his shoulder. "Oh it's you two," she said, relived it wasn't a couple of Death Eaters. Her eyes got big as she observed the scene again. "What happened to George?!"

"Long story. I'll tell you once we're inside," Fred replied, grunting a bit as he supported his twin's weight. "Give me a hand, will you." Elaine took George's other arm and put it over her shoulder.

"Sorry 'bout this, but according to Mum, I shouldn't be walking around too much yet. Still a bit faint from blood loss. Told her we had to get back before opening time and I wasn't going to die if she let me out of her sight," George said conversationally, as he was helped back to the shop. Inside, Verity was awake and conjured a chair for George to sit in.

Fred recounted the events of the night, at least what the twins knew for sure what had happened. "And he just appeared! And he could fly! Nearly scared me to death!"

"So what do you think?" George asked, clasping his hands together and tilting his head to display his missing ear.

"Oh yes, very holey," Elaine quipped back. They all laughed. "Now, both of you look ready to drop. So get yourselves to bed. Immediately. No argument."

"Yes, Mum," the twins replied in unison and dragged themselves up the steps to the flat.

Elaine turned to Verity. "Do you think you can manage the shop today?" she asked hurriedly, distracted by her thoughts.

"Sure."

"Thanks so much." Elaine grabbed her bag and ran out of the store. Her eyes flickered back and forth rapidly. She conjured her patronus out of habit more than anything. She was worried about something. Her worry showed in every movement, every glance. She passed a fountain in a square. Abruptly she stopped and sat down on the edge of the fountain. She stared into the water.

Worry was not productive, she told herself. "Too deep," she muttered anxiously. Elaine closed her eyes and breathed deep. At the sound of footsteps, her eyes flew open. Masks stared back at her. Death Eaters. She looked at their eyes. Putting her hand on her hip, Elaine smiled. He'd sent imperiused ones. "Easy as pie." She let her bag slide off her shoulder.

Laughter filled the silent square as she lunged for the nearest Death Eater. Ducking under his extended wand arm, she jabbed her fist into his stomach. He went down with a grunt. The others closed in. Judging from their movements, a couple of them were women. That might be enough to deter any man with a sense of honor, but Elaine was no man. She had no qualms about attacking women. In this world, if you don't fight dirty, fight to win, you won't last too long. Using the fountain as a spring board, she leap up into the air, firing stunning spells down upon them. She landed lightly on her feet. Those summers of gymnastics her grandmother put her through had never helped her more.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a flash of green light. Green light never boded well, especially when dealing with Death Eaters. She dropped into the splits. Swinging her legs around, she flipped herself up facing the caster of the killing curse. It was one of the women. Cocking her head, Elaine pondered why the woman wasn't on the ground, stunned like the rest of them. She was sure she'd hit her dead on. Ahhh, there it was. She was wearing a Shield Cloak. One of the newer bunch, meaning it was her own spell. Elaine would not be defeated by her own charm.

The woman raised her wand and Elaine snatched it from her fingers. Surprised, the woman fell back against the fountain. In less than a second, Elaine was on her, pinning her shoulders with her knees. "Death Eater, eh. Eat this." Elaine jammed the woman's wand down her throat, killing her. She stood up and backed away, stoney-faced. She was tiring of the game. Her silver tiger was circling the field of battle. Elaine dismissed it. Silently, she crept into a dark alley between two houses and revived the Death Eaters. They stood up and saw their comrade dead.

"She Apparated," stated one of them. They grabbed the dead woman and disappeared themselves. Elaine stepped out, smile on her face. Shouldn't they have figured out she didn't usually do things that wizards think of first. Thinking like a Muggle had its advantages. She walked home, smile still on her face.

George was walking down the street that led to Elaine's place. He didn't usually come by after hours, but today he had something to ask. It was the thirtieth and he needed to let her know they had just received word that there was a shipment coming in the next day. Actually, it was more of an excuse to go talk to her. "Just ask her. Nothing complicated about it. Just ask if she wants to come with you to Bill and Fleur's wedding." It was odd; he'd never had trouble with this kind of thing ever before. He stood on the doorstep and adjusted his robes. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Elaine!" he blurted out as the door opened.

"Baby, someone here to talk to you!" the man at the door called back into the house. His blue eyes cooly observed George.

"Matt, I presume?" he asked with a smile. But inside he felt his stomach turn with dread. George knew he had no chance of getting a yes.

"Yes. Which one are you?" Matt asked in return, rather rudely, in George's opinion.

"George. Nice to meet you."

Elaine came to the door. "George!" She sounded pleasantly surprised. "What are you doing here?" Matt seemed to dislike her tone and draped his arm around her shoulder.

"Um...Oh yeah! Shipment, tomorrow. Just a heads up. I know you'll be there anyway, but I just wanted to make sure you weren't surprised by it. You know, attack the owls thinking they're Death Eaters."

She laughed. Matt looked irritated by that fact. "Well, thanks for the heads up. I'd invite you in, but we're just going to dinner."

"That's fine. Don't worry. I understand." She looked at him oddly.

"Elaine, let's go. We don't want to miss our reservation."

"Yeah, I'm coming Matt." The two of them got onto a motorcycle George could not believe he had missed walking up. "Sorry, we can't talk more, but I'll see at work when you get back." She smiled, then put on her helmet.

George watched them ride off. With a sigh, he Apparated back to Diagon Alley.

Back at the shop, a little more than a day later, Elaine was showing off something to Verity. "Isn't it lovely?" she said, showing the other witch the sparkling ring on her finger. "Matt proposed! We're engaged!"

"That's wonderful!" Verity agreed that the ring was beautiful. "I'll go get some firewhiskey and we'll have a drink." She left the room. Elaine picked up a basket of merchandise to return to the shelves.

Suddenly, Fred's patronus appeared in the shop. It startled her so badly, she dropped something for the first time since working there. The bottle crashed to the floor. The patronus spoke. "Ministry's fallen. You know what to do." It bounded away.

"Verity!" she called. Verity came running. "Ministry alert!" Verity nodded. They'd been worried about this. Thus, they had made contingency plans. They secured the shop, using all the spells they had decided on earlier. As they worked, Elaine frowned. She had never liked Scrimgeor, but he'd done fairly well, considering the circumstances.

"I'm going to take a walk, Verity." Elaine started to walk down Diagon Alley. Out of the Leaky Cauldron entrance, came Matt. She looked at him. He enfolded her in a hug.

"Are you okay? I'm here now, I've got you covered."

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"The Ministry had fallen to the Dark Lord."

Elaine's eyes betrayed none of her thoughts. "How would you know? How would you know!" she shouted at him. "You bastard!" He grabbed her wrist.

"Calm down."

Her voice became quiet but deadly. "You son of a bitch. How long?"

"Oh, a couple months. They paid well. How else do think I could afford to buy the ring for you?" He grabbed her shoulders. "I love you. Otherwise I would not have done any of this. It was for your own good. I can protect you now."

Elaine looked down at the ring, which moments ago had seemed so pretty. She closed her eyes. She dropped down through his hands and avoided his grip. She yanked the ring off her finger and threw it at him. It bounced off his chest and landed with a clink on the cobbles. His blue eyes were anguished. "You don't know me at all. I don't want to be protected. I can do that for myself." She turned her heel and ran.

"You're nothing like your father!" Matt yelled after her, aiming to hurt, thinking she could not possibly know who it was and would come back to find out.

She looked back, a tear sliding from her eye. Her face went hard and angry. "Good!"

He watched her quickly receding back. He felt his heart breaking. His father would be so proud. For doing to Elaine what his father had done to his mother. Matt couldn't stand living anymore. He walked right out of the Leaky Cauldron and onto the street. He started to run against the flow of traffic, trying to get in the way. A speeding car hit him and he crumpled gratefully to the ground.

"Oh my God! Someone call and ambulance!" There was a woman with short black hair standing over him.

"Elaine?" he asked, blood bubbling from between his lips. He focused on the face. It wasn't her. "S'not your fault," he told the woman thickly. "Suicide." He smiled. Elaine was finally safe from him. His last thought before the darkness closed in was that he'd told the Dark Lord where her house was. His smile turned to an expression of horror. Then he was gone.

Standing outside the Leaky Cauldron was Elaine. She saw the whole thing. She turned away her face to hide the tears. Matt had been great, even though he had spied on her. She brushed the tears away and got onto his motorcycle. He'd left it there. She put on the flight drive and sped away. It was time to confront her memories.


	5. Memories Hurt

**Okay, I am very sorry that it took me so long to put this up. But here it is now.**

Chapter 5: Memories Hurt

From the earliest she could remember, Elaine had been tormented by her mother. Not just physical, but psychological abuse as well. The constant pain would have broken anyone. But Elaine wasn't anyone. At a young age, she discovered hatred. She nursed the feeling, keeping it as close to her heart as an ordinary child would keep love. Hating kept her warm at night and allowed her to endure.

She was well acquainted with the dark arts. Jenevra had been the information supplier for the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. Perhaps this was the reason she no longer feared him. She'd seen him for what he was, a twisted, evil, but human, man. As she learned quickly, the more silent she was, the more she could learn. Being around Death Eaters so much gave her a morbid outlook on life, one that she was forced to unlearn by her grandmother years later.

Serving evil for so long had done great damage to the mind of Jenevra Kellswater. In the end, she began making mistakes. Mistakes that cost the lives of Death Eaters and ultimately her own. After the Lestranges ended up in Azkaban, she went more than a little insane. Her reputation as an infallible source of intel was crashing around her ears and all she did was continue to dig herself deeper.

Elaine never meant to follow on the new family business, as Jenevra called it. Her hatred of the dark arts manifested itself in sinister and devious ways, some of which were the sources of a few of Jenevra's problems. She did not intend to be caught dead with her mother's crowd. A short time after Elaine's ninth birthday, Jenevra's illness finally caught up with her. She lay in her bed, delusional with fever and insanity. At least that was what Elaine had believed at the time. Come on, Jenevra was ranting about blackmailing the Dark Lord. In time, she came to believe that Jenevra was never more lucid than on her deathbed.

The day her grandmother came to pick her up at the house was burned into Elaine's mind forever. She'd never met her grandmother, nor even known one had existed, save for a few vague and malicious comments by Jenevra when she thought her daughter wasn't listening. So she wasn't very sure of what to expect. She had imagined a cruel face with a tight bun and severely pursed lips or, at least, something along those lines. But the angel that had appeared on her doorstep was nothing like what Elain was expecting. Plump, but not fat. Hair in a loose bun. Kindly face, with gentle blue eyes, something Elaine had never seen before in her life. Old, but at the same time, ageless.

Of course, Elaine having grown up the way she did, she was naturally suspiscious of this woman. Her experience with people was limited to the malevolent people who followed Lord Voldemort. Kindness was so outside her sphere of understanding that the first conclusion her mind leapt to was that this was some kind of elaborate trick by her mother, whom she did not yet regard as dead. Her young mind had not yet grasped the fact that her mother was out of her life as a living human being. Acrua lived in London, far away from the high-class, yet dilapidated suburb Elaine had lived her entire life up till that point in. However, that did not mean she wasn't happy to see it go. As Acrua rightly guessed that her granddaughter would not immediately trust her enough to do side along Apparation, she purchased train tickets for the return trip.

The train ride was a silent affair, Elaine's mind trying to find a subversive purpose to all of this. But nonetheless, she found herself enjoying the experience. She'd never ridden a train before. Never gone further than the square outside her house, for that matter. Acrua's house was a different from Jenevra's as day from night. Jenevra's house had always been dark and a sort of deep blue haze seemed to cover everything. It was a spooky house, more like a mansion of ruin. Acrua's house was a small, but tidy affair that seemed to radiate a peaceful light. Tidy, but not antiseptically clean like the house of an OCD sufferer. It was more of a home than Jenevra's ever was. The mansion, even with all its hidey-holes and hidden passages, was nothing more than a house. A home was a new feeling for Elaine.

She was introduced to the animals of the house first. She clicked immediately with the kittens, Mugwy and Patches. There was a Golden Retriever named Brady who was also a member of the family. Petey, an adorable and sweet rat, was the only other pet. In time, the number of animals would grow, adding even more life to the already bursting house. But for the time being, Elaine got her first friends ever and Acrua used them as a channel to begin understanding the granddaughter she knew nothing about. Talk about the animals provided conversation between the two, helping Elaine start to unlearn her morbid outlook and replace it with a more optimistic view. Naturally, it was not a blindly optimistic view, or optimistic view at all for that matter, but it was at the very least no longer an outlook that ordained everything would end in death. At times, she was brutally realistic in her observations, but the world of death she had lived in was leaving her thoughts.

The two years in that environment did her so much good the Acrua felt that Elaine was ready to join the rest of the wizarding world and go to Hogwarts rather than be home schooled. Elaine still didn't say much. In fact, she only talked if she had something to say. And when she spoke they were usually astute and bluntly honest observations. But she still hadn't learned to laugh. Smiles were rare, but angelic. Still, Acrua recognized that in order for Elaine to grow more, she needed the company of others her age.

So, when the letter came, she took her granddaughter to Diagon Alley, within walking distance of her house, to procure the necessary items. Elaine was proud enough of her wand to give her grandmother one of the treasured smiles. Acrua did not buy her an owl, reasoning that as soon as the kittens were grown, she could use one of them. For the meantime, Elaine would be able to use the school owls.

September first arrived and Elaine remembered being the most nervous she had ever been in her life. Holding tight to her grandmother's hand, she rolled her trunk along behind her. Platform Nine and Three Quarters posed a surprise for her, but a pleasant one. She didn't speak, but her eyes flickered back in forth, taking in all the noise and excitement. Elaine gave up her trunk and climbed up into the nearest car. Mouth closed and eyes wild, she looked for a room. She climbed up onto the seat and peered out of the window. As the train pulled out, she found her grandmother and waved until she was out of sight. She closed the window and curled up on the seat. A short time later she was no longer the only occupant of the room. Three boys had joined her. She stared at them. The only boy she'd ever seen was the Malfoy's little baby. She wrinkled her nose. She wasn't sure she liked these boys any better.

The two red-heads were twins and had obviously found a friend right away. She tried to make herself invisible. Eventually, however, they noticed her. "Hello there, m'name's George Weasley." She looked at him for a moment.

"Elaine." She spoke so quickly she wasn't even sure she had spoken aloud.

"Fred Weasley."

"Lee Jordan."

"Nice to meet you," she said politely.

Not too long later, she was forgotten again in her silence. She watched them try to perform spells and felt a bit smug, having already done quite a few of them. The corners of her mouth twitched up, but no one noticed.

The train arrived and Elaine once again became a silent shadow. She joined the rest of the first years, keeping to herself. She ended up in a boat with the twins, though she tried to keep away as much as possible. One of the professors explained about sorting and led them into the Great Hall. Elaine stared up at the ceiling with a smile on her face. When her name was called, she approached the hat with determination. The professor put the hat on her head. "Now what are we going to do with you?" the hat asked inside her head.

Elaine thought to the hat, under no uncertain terms, that if it put her in Slytherin, her mother's house, she would walk right back out those doors and never come back. "Very witty," commented the hat. "Perhaps Ravenclaw. Yes, you are very clever. Hmm. Indeed." It straightened up and announced to the hall "Gryffindor!" She was surprised to be sorted into Gryffindor. She wondered how she was brave.

Elaine joined the Jordan boy and the rest of the students at the table. She remained just as silent as ever. Her stomach growled. She realized she was very hungry. Her mouth watered at the thought of her grandmother's food. The Weasley twins also ended up in Gryffindor. Watching them, Elaine had a strange urge to laugh, which she hid by stuffing her mouth with the food that had just appeared on the table. It wasn't as good as her grandmother's but it was good enough that she thought she'd be able to stand eating it on a daily basis.

All too soon, in her opinion, the feast ended. Trudging off to the dormitories for the first time with her fellow classmates, Elaine suddenly felt immensely homesick. She wasn't sure she wanted to spend the whole school year in this strange castle. She frowned as they approached a painting. It was of a fat lady, dressed in pink. Being from such an unconventional background, she was just as lost as the Muggle-borns by this strange stop.

The prefect leading them told the painting the password. It swung to the side to allow them entrance. Elaine gasped in surprise. This was interesting. Her homesickness vanished in light of the possibility of more such interesting discoveries to be made. This school might actually be alright.

Elaine was walking towards one of her classes the first week when she came across those twins again. They were coming out from behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. "- and I reckon we've found one of them secret passages," one of them was saying.

"I wonder if Filch knows about this one, George? I suppose he's got to know where a couple of them are. Even if he can't open them."

The twins pulled up short when they noticed they were being watched. "Hey, I remember you. You were on the train with us," said the one she could now identify as George.

"Never said nuffink but her name, though," said Fred.

Elaine had stared pointedly at them, clearing her throat a little to remind them that she was still standing there and could in fact hear every word they were saying.

"Well come on then, we'll be late for Transfiguration if we don't hurry," Geroge said, motioning to her. The three of them ran all the way to the classroom, managing to barely get into their seats before the class began.

"Been exploring," Fred whispered to Lee a little ways into class. Elaine smiled behind her book. With these twins, it was going to be an interesting year.

Not much longer than couple months later, Elaine happened by what should have been a deserted corridor. Those twins were at their mischief again, chucking Dungbombs in every direction. Watching them from around the corner, she noticed something the twins did not. Mrs. Norris was creeping up from the other side. Unfortunately one of the Dungbombs hit her and sent her yowling off to get Filch. The Weasley twins dropped the remainder of the bombs with an identical "Uh-oh" and started down the corridor toward Elaine. Too late. Filch came running from the other end of the corridor. He escorted the twins to his office after instructing Mrs. Norris to find if there were any other "vulgar children" involved in this "filthy and horrifying mess".

Elaine waited perhaps a moment too long to run away for Mrs. Norris came around the corner she'd been hiding behind and stared piercingly at her. Elaine held up her hands, a motion of defeat or innocence, she wasn't sure. But a detention was not on her list of things to do, so she sped off, running as fast as she could away from Mrs. Norris, even though she knew it was as much as an admission of guilt.

Later, safe in the common room, having given the cat the slip in the fifth floor corridors, she allowed herself a small smile of triumph. Tomorrow was a flying lesson and she would be glad to go outside, despite the winter weather. The twins arrived not long after she did, bundling themselves in a corner without the company of their friend Lee Jordan. Elaine peered over the top of the armchair, watching them intently.

"-can't believe we nicked it from Filch's office. I mean, whoever he was after must have led him on a merry chase! He was gone for, whadya reckon, Fred? Near half- hour."

"He certainly didn't look to happy when he came back. At least he only docked us points. Sure was riled at the person he couldn't find. Anyway, whadaya suppose this is? Must be something good for causing trouble, otherwise Filch wouldn't have had it in that drawer."

"Lemme see that," said George, bringing his wand to the parchment. "Open up. Show us how to work this darn thing! Come on, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

Fred whistled. "Well, would you look at that. It's called the Marauder's map. Way cool!"

But what the map did, Elaine did not see. On the whole, her first year passed uneventfully. Gryffindor did not win the House Cup, nor the Quidditch Cup, or even more than one Quidditch game for that matter. The loss of the House Cup was due primarily to the enormous amounts of mischief the twins and Lee Jordan had caused throughout the year, but the entertainment value of the pranks had been well worth that loss. Nearby, during the end of year feast, the above-mentioned culprits were discussing Quidditch.

"Me an' Fred are gonna try out next year. I mean our Beaters are just abysmal! We're pretty good and we got that whole twin thing working for us."

"I'm not bad on a broom, I suppose, but I don't fancy my chances of getting on the team. Maybe I'll try Commentator. McGonagall said it might be open next year."

Elaine had been interested in Quidditch since she moved to her grandmother's but hardly ever having been on a broom, she doubted she had what it took to play. That aside, it was still fun to watch from the sidelines. Even if they lost.

Back home, Acrua put Elaine in gymnastics. Elaine did not understand this, but went obligingly anyway. It was here that she met one of her best friends, who turned out to be a home-schooled witch. Abby seemed to be the opposite of Elaine, blonde and outspoken. But the two hit it off right away, somehow recognizing a kindred spirit. Abby had been in gymnastics pretty much her whole life; it was one of the things her parents insisted upon for her "future career", although neither of the girls could figure out exactly what sort of job that would be. Elaine, while she had only started gymnastics at twelve years old, was extremely flexible nonetheless. If she had not been, the teachers would have considered her too old to start. She never told anyone that the reason she'd gotten to be so flexible was all the sneaking she'd done in her mother's house. She had often ended up in strange positions, so she stayed very flexible.

The two girls swore to write to each other every week, at least, during the school year. Abby was one of the few for the longest time to hear Elaine speak more than one word. Much comforted by the fact she would have a regular correspondent and friend this year, Elaine smiled widely and actually told her surprised and amused grandmother "Good-bye! See you at Christmas!" before hopping aboard the train.

Once the train departed, Elaine ran into trouble. Quite literally. She had walked right into a tall Slytherin fifth year and his buddies. Glowering, he raised his wand to hex her, but with reflexes born of experience with her mother, she kicked him between the legs, head-butted his stomach, and vanished quickly down the corridor. She ducked into a compartment and heard, "Nice! Bet he wasn't expecting that!" She turned fast and saw the twins and Lee Jordan, all looking at her amusedly.

"He surprised me. Couldn't remember any decent curses," she shrugged.

The three boys stared open-mouthed. "And we'd almost convinced ourselves you were mute!"

"Yeah, Fred. That was two whole sentences!"

Elaine turned pink, but smiled. "Well, you better duck, 'cause I can hear that big Slytherin bloke charging down this way looking for ya!" exclaimed Lee. She ducked and rolled under the seat so fast that for a moment they thought she had put an invisibility cloak on. At least until they heard a sneeze and a "Wow, it's dusty under here!" come from underneath the seat. George held up three fingers and mouthed "Three sentences!" and then yelped because Elaine could see his reflection and pinched the back of his leg.

On the whole, Elaine felt that he second year went considerably better than her first. The Weasley twins made Beaters and Lee was doing commentary, so the Gryffindor Quidditch team managed to scrape two wins, although they lost so horribly to Slytherin, as did all the teams, that they didn't even come close to winning the Quidditch Cup. The twins were still wrecking havok all over the school, amusing enough to keep the Gryffindors from being too put out when they lost the House Cup again. However, they did far more than they had the previous year, and although they weren't always caught at it, she knew it was them. As did Filch, but he could hardly ever find them at it, due, Elaine believed, to that map they had found the previous year. Elaine kept Abby abreast of all that she was learning and all the interesting things happening around the castle. Her last letter of the year indicated she'd be seeing Abby again during the summer and could hardly wait.

This particular summer proved to be just as mundane as ever, although gymnastics kept her occupied enough not to notice it. This summer also marked the start of her cooking lessons and the addition of the clever ferret Taw. Elaine remembered clearly how she and Abby had been strolling along and saw him in the window. How he had looked almost human, pleading with them not to leave him that dingy old pet shop. The two girls could not ignore his plight and together they scraped enough money to buy him. Every Christmas, Taw made something for each of the girls, and during the school year, when Elaine was away, Abby would come visit the ferret. However, over the summer, Elaine became a frequent visitor to the Stewart house. The Stewarts were kind and genial. They never seemed to get upset and even let the girls practice magic in the house. After all, reasoned Mr. Stewart, how were you supposed to learn stuff if you didn't practice it during the summer.

However, it was her third year that started the succession of very interesting and action-filled years leading up to the present. And, naturally, the reason for this was Harry Potter.


	6. School Days

**I sincerely apologize for taking so long with this. I wanted it to match up with the books and as a result I ended up doing a lot of research. Anyhow, here it is, enjoy, and there should be another 2 chapters at least out before the end of the summer. **

Chapter 6: The School Days

_ However, it was her third year that started the succession of very interesting and action-filled years leading up to the present. And, naturally, the reason for this was Harry Potter. _

It had started reasonably well. The most interesting thing on the train was Lee Jordan and his tarantula. She had gone to the middle of the train to see it. It was indeed giant. Giant and hairy. She thought it was adorable. For a spider, that is. Then, as the train really got moving, rumors began to fly down the corridors. Harry Potter was on the train.

On the whole, Elaine hadn't really cared. She knew who he was, but reasoned that the last thing the poor boy would need was more attention. Instead, she had found an empty compartment and relaxed. She would rather be alone, especially because Taw had made her snacks for the road. He was already an excellent cook. She didn't want to have to share her food with anyone.

The interesting stuff began at dinner. Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor. Elaine had flipped her long braid over her shoulder and applauded wildly like the rest of the House. After they had all eaten, Dumbledore had asked them to sing the school anthem. Elaine didn't like to sing, but she did this time. It was made even more difficult by the twins who were singing it to a slow funeral march. She fought very hard not to laugh. She didn't succeed very well.

The first week passed in a flash. Elaine had been happy to hear they had a new Seeker for the Quidditch team. Harry Potter was more than fair from what she'd heard. Perhaps the Cup would be Gryffindor's this year. She hoped. She hated the Slytherins' smug smiles. The first game approached fast, against Slytherin. The Slytherins were even more unbearable than usual. So much so that when a sixth-year Slytherin boy was making fun of the team, Elaine snapped. He was never sure what had happened, Elaine knew for certain. They never would have pinned the attack on her anyway. She was the silent girl that everyone thought was timid. After a very derisive comment, she had punched him in the nose and then proceeded to pummel him into unconsciousness. Her fellow Gryffindor witnesses would not tell on her, although, they did edge away from her. Neither would the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs say anything. That boy had made the mistake of running his mouth off where there were no other Slytherins. Elaine thought he believed his size would protect him. Not even.

The Quidditch game was a entertaining as everyone had expected. Despite the strange thing happening with Harry's broom in the middle of the game, Gryffindor still won. It was Elaine's turn to fire off smug smiles at all the Slytherin's she encountered over the next few days. She wrote to Abby and told her about her little "snap". Abby wrote back and told her "way to go" and congratulated her profusely, as if she had been single-handedly responsible for wiping the smiles off the Slytherins' faces.

The first Hogsmeade visit had come and gone. The best part about that was that Abby had convinced her parents to take a trip to Hogsmeade that weekend as well. The two friends spent the whole day wandering around together. They giggled to each other as they passed Madme Puddifoot's. They couldn't believe anyone would want to go in there. At thirteen they weren't all that interested in boys. They went to the Shrieking Shack, although to their disappointment, it wasn't shrieking.

Elaine thought that perhaps this was the best year so far. But that happy feeling was not to last. The troll at Halloween was a bit of a shocker. She had wondered how it had gotten in in the first place. She thought Hogwarts was supposed to be safe. That had been one uneasy night for her since her imagination had provided numerous dark and disturbing creatures lurking in every shadow. Even though she heard the troll had been taken care of, by Harry Potter no less. Her illusion that the school was the safest place outside of her grandmother's house had been shattered in a big way.

She went home for the Christmas Holidays, one of two times in the span she was at Hogwarts, and spent an exciting winter having snowball fights in her neighborhood with Abby. The two girls had enormous fun causing as much trouble as they possibly could. They were joined by a couple of their friends from gymnastics. These two girls, Ally and Lara, were very curious to know where Elaine went, given that she was unreachable during the school year. Elaine didn't know how to answer, but Abby solved the problem for her by claiming that she went to a boarding school in Ireland and they weren't allowed to use phones and the post except in emergencies. Break was over too quickly, Elaine thought as she boarded the train again. And the rest of the year was looking very bleak.

The Gryffindors felt that the next game was rigged. Snape was refereeing and even though it was against Hufflepuff, he was likely to call against Gryffindor. She cheered loudly when George "accidently" hit a bludger at Snape for a stupid call he had made. She didn't care if she got on Snape's bad side. She was decent at potions; she had yet to fail an assignment. She watched carefully to make sure Snape didn't mess with her stuff. She'd heard that he was prone to doing that to Gryffindors. And anyway, Snape had no reason to dislike her, even if he noticed her more than the few occasions he did currently.

The game had ended spectacularly, with the fastest catch of the snitch Elaine had ever seen. It may very well have been a new record at the school, but she wasn't really in a position to know. In any case, Potter had dived right past Snape and snatched the snitch. Elaine couldn't believe how much better this year was going.

But it wouldn't last. None of the happy feelings lingered after the next fiasco. One morning she had gone down to the Great Hall and found that suddenly Gryffindor was missing 150 points since the last time she had checked. She couldn't believe it. She sat down at the table, feeling numb. Gossip was traveling around that it had been a bunch of first years wandering about after bedtime. At first Elaine thought there had to be a mistake. That many points taken because students were out of bed? It didn't sound right. Then, she heard the Slytherins gleefully discussing the loss as well, mentioning loudly that it had been Harry Potter. Elaine figured there had been extenuating circumstances, but that didn't stop her from feeling the disappointment settle in her stomach. They'd almost had a chance this year.

Oddly enough, the loss must have put Snape in an excellent mood because he awarded her points for getting her potion perfect later that day. The Slytherins were too shocked, and, Elaine thought, too stupid to comment about it. The Gryffindors were also stunned, but none of them wanted to risk losing the points by speaking up. Elaine was reasonably sure Snape just hadn't been paying attention and had mistaken her for one of his own house. After class the Gryffindors left the room as fast as possible, not wanting to be there when Snape realized he'd given points to Gryffindor. Elaine heard the twins and Lee laughing about it later, but thankfully not spreading it around the school. She really did not need to fail Potions.

The workload for the rest of the year was not very fun nor very small. Looking back, Elaine could hardly believe she had managed to get through it all, and manage to do well on it. There was only one Quidditch game left and it was after exams. So because none of them were expecting anything interesting to happen before then, it was with great shock that the story of Harry Potters exploits greeted them one morning after the exams had finished. It was the buzz of the school, even thought none of the students could seem to locate him or his friends to ask them about it. It was too bad really, that the last Quidditch match passed by and Gryffindor lost its chance at the Cup given that their seeker was still unconscious in the hospital wing ( as Elaine later found out).

She heard many versions of the story, even one involving a dragon and a battle with several vicious manticores. What she was able to deduce was that Harry Potter and two of his friends, Granger, the smartest girl of the first years (so Elaine heard from all but the Slytherins), and the Weasley twins' little brother Ron had gone to stop Professor Quirrell from stealing the Sorcerer's Stone. The way she heard it was that they got past a Devil's Snare, fought off an angry storm of keys while trying to find the right one to open the door, played through McGonagall's chess set, fought trolls, somehow made it past Snape's poisons, and then faced Quirrell with Voldemort possessing him. Many of the stories were greatly exaggerated, she thought, but she figured that at the most basic these things had happened and in somewhat of that order.

But what had really grabbed her attention about the situation was the fact she had run into the twins trying to steal a toilet seat to send their little brother's friend. She had been looking for Moaning Myrtle at the time, because she felt sorry for the poor ghost. Elaine was one of the few people that could talk to ghost without offending her. But upon entering the bathroom she heard not Myrtle's shrill voice, but the voice of a boy talking to himself. Or so it seemed. She had crept in and peered around the corner to see Fred and George struggling to remove the seat from one of the toilets. Covering her mouth with her hand to smother her laughter, she watched them yank on it.

When it finally came loose, quite suddenly, the twins fell back, rolling out of the stall, prize in hand. Elaine had exited, but couldn't keep from laughing the next time she saw the twins. They had been amused as well and confused, but she wasn't going to enlighten them. It was their fault they hadn't checked that map of theirs. She couldn't wait to tell Abby about it.

To top off an excellent end to the year, Gryffindor won the House Cup because of last minute points to the participants in the interesting escapades of the last few days. Elaine had not been looking forward to seeing the Great Hall decorated with green and silver. So she actually shouted and cheered loudly with the rest of the students when that changed, startling the bunch of girls she was finally getting to know. This group included two of the Gryffindor chasers and a couple other girls in her year. They knew her as their silent and somewhat trouble-making friend, so they were all shocked to hear her wolf-whistle and shout with the change of decoration.

Elaine was particularly looking forward to this summer. She and her grandmother were going with Abby's family on a trip to the coast. Elaine had never seen the ocean except in pictures and imagined it as a sort of heaven. She could hardly sit still the whole train ride back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and nearly jumped out of the train before it came to a stop. Her grandmother was surprised to see her with a huge smile on her face.

Abby was waiting there as well. Elaine was surprised to see her friend, but happy. The two girls got another surprise when they went out to meet the Stewarts. They were given a newfangled Muggle tool called a cell phone. This way, the two girls could communicate with their non-magic friends, particularly Ally and Lara. Elaine knew the phone wouldn't work at Hogwarts, but Abby was willing to take what she said by owl and turn it into messages for the others.

But at least for the summer they could seem totally normal. Keeping with that sort of appearance, the Stewarts had a car that the five of them were taking. Elaine had never been on a road trip either and had stared fixated at the changes in the landscape. Abby laughed and goggled with her. Neither of them could remember being out of the city like this. Elaine could recall with perfect clarity the moment she got out of the car and could see the ocean. It's deep blue stretched across the horizon. The sun glinted off the sand and sent sparkles off the waves. It was beautiful.

They spent most of the trip on the beach swimming or laying in the sun and tanning. Despite being shy, Elaine befriended a group of guys that spent every summer down at the beach. They taught her to arm wrestle. She taught them how to spit far.

On the last day of the trip, the two girls and their new friends challenged the self-appointed undisputed kings of the beach to a water fight. Elaine filled the water guns with the ocean water and pumped them up. Abby and the boys added the final touches to their sand fort. It wasn't a marvel of modern engineering, or in fact engineered at all, but they did the best they could with wet sand. But at least it was better than the other boys' fort, which consisted of a pile of sand.

The girls' team won. This was due to the fact that while Abby and most of their guys kept the other boys ducking, Elaine and one of their new friends, a brash and impulsive sandy-haired boy named Eric, slipped into the water and swam around to the back of the boys. They jumped out and soaked the former kings, at which point, the deposed monarchs of the beach surrendered, laughing and cursing good-naturedly.

The two girls were sad to leave the beach, but the rest of summer vacation called, and they had missed too much of gymnastics already. After exchanging phone numbers with their friends and feeding them the same story about Elaine's school, the two girls piled back into the car for the ride back to London.

This was the summer Elaine discovered what a gerbil was. She loved walking by the pet shop. It had to be her favorite place in the whole world. She noticed, sitting in the window, a large mouse with a furry tail. Confused, she went in to ask the owner what on earth it could possibly be. It turned out to be a gerbil. Elaine thought she might like to own one at some point.

A few weeks later she received her letter. Her grandmother sighed when she saw what the books were for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She didn't like Lockhart, but she was unwilling to explain the reasons to her fourteen-year-old grandchild. Elaine didn't care much for him either; his smile put her off. Big and cheesy, and to herself, she thought, a liar's smile. Then again, her younger years had made her an excellent judge of falsities. He reminded her of a used car salesman. She was not looking forward to having him or anyone who liked him as a teacher.

Sadly, the week before she was to leave again the Golden Retriever, Brady, died. So it was with a heavy heart that she made her way to Diagon Alley with her grandmother to purchase her books for the semester. Fortunately, at least to Elaine, Lockhart was signing books, his new autobiography or something of the sort, the next day. Elaine found out that he was to be their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Madam Malkins as she was being fitted for new robes. Her heart fell with a depressing thump into her stomach. The other girls thought it was going to be grand and giggled happily their whole fitting. The boys accompanying them looked a lot less thrilled Elaine had been pleased to note.

Still, she had thought as she sat in her compartment, moodily munching on her snacks a week later, it couldn't be too bad of a year on the whole. It might even be easier to some extent. Hopefully, Lockhart was as stupid as he looked and would be a shoddy enough teacher to not assign much homework.

Elaine ran into Fred, George, and Lee in the hallway as she bought a couple of cauldron cakes. "- and we hadn't heard from him and all. We heard those Muggles he stays with are just awful. So we sneak the car out and fly to go get him. I mean, it was seriously awesome," Fred told Lee.

"Did ya guys get caught?" Lee asked excited.

"Well, yes and no. We broke him out, quite literally. Pulled the bars off his window and everything. After that, smooth sailing." George picked up the thread of the story.

"Then we got home. Mum was furious. But, man, it was worth it," Fred finished.

Elaine hid her smile behind her hand as she darted back into her compartment. She was joined a short time later by Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, whom she had befriended, along with a couple other girls, the previous year. Fortunately, they were all discussing Quidditch, rather than Lockhart. Elaine could now join the conversation in a knowledgeable capacity, owing to Abby's parting gift this year: Quidditch Through the Ages. She'd read it several times by this point.

Elaine sat impatiently though the sorting, eager to start eating. When she got back to the Gryffindor common room, she heard the details about Harry and Ron's arrival by the same flying car she had heard Fred and George discussing earlier in the train. It was a fair start to the year, she felt. Well, aside from all the girls going crazy over Lockhart. Elaine wanted to curse them all. Their incessant giggling ground her nerves to dust.

It was even worse in Lockhart's class, but Elaine managed to get past her irritation by snoozing in the back of the classroom. Unlike all the other girls, she chose to sit as far back in the class as possible. Lockhart's self-absorption was very wearing and she had taken to blatantly insulting him whenever the opportunity presented itself.

On the whole, nothing very interesting happened until Halloween. Elaine told Abby in her next letter that she was starting to think she would be better off sleeping through Halloween, given that last year there was a troll and this year there was, well, no one was quite sure. Mrs. Norris had been petrified and a mysterious message had been written in blood on the wall. No one at the school was particularly fond of Mrs. Norris or Filch, so she figured it was some sort of Halloween prank, although given the reactions of the teachers, it certainly gave the impression that it was more than that.

In the gossip of the following days, Elaine began to see how serious what had happened was. She found out what the Chamber of Secrets was and what a nutter Slytherin was (she always thought he sounded a little sketchy and off his rocker). Of course there were discussions about who the heir of Slytherin might be, but Elaine thought all the accusations sounded far-fetched. She'd even heard people saying that it was Harry Potter, just because he was the one who had found Mrs. Norris and the one Filch had accused first. She asked Moaning Myrtle about it, but the ghost was in such a bad state that Elaine got nothing useful out of her.

The first Quidditch game of the season gave everyone something else to discuss. It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and a definite grudge match. There was word spreading that the new Slytherin Seeker had bought his way onto the team. When she saw it was Draco Malfoy, Elaine could believe it. She'd never liked that boy, even when he was a baby, and was hoping Harry would knock him off his broom. Provided there were no more untimely accidents this year, there was an excellent chance Gryffindor would get the cup. And rub it into the Slytherins faces, she hoped.

The game had started out fairly oddly. One of the bludgers seemed to be only going for Harry Potter. It was puzzling. Fred and George were having to keep close watch on him to keep him from getting clobbered. Clearly something was wrong with the bludger, she had thought as she watched Wood call a time out. She watched the game, heart in her mouth, as the bludger time and again came close to hitting Harry. Finally, Harry stayed still just long enough for the bludger to hit his arm. It looked broken, Elaine thought. But then, diving right at Malfoy (she nearly shouted for joy), Harry caught the snitch.

Elaine was happy until she saw Lockhart go down onto the field. She was afraid he would permanently damage their Seeker. As it turned out, he didn't do permanent damage, but he did put Harry in the hospital wing for the whole night. "Took the ruddy bones out of his arm, the git," George told the rest of the house after the game. The girls twittered disapprovingly at his tone. Elaine smiled though.

The next morning they were greeted with the news that a first year, Colin Creevy had been petrified. Elaine definitely began to feel uneasy, going to school with the Heir of Slytherin, whomever he or she was. Not too long after that, there was news of a dueling club. It didn't sound that interesting to Elaine. It sounded like it had too many rules and she preferred to fight dirty. So because she didn't go, she only heard about the incident second hand. Potter and Malfoy were dueling and Malfoy created a snake. Then the snake started to go towards some Hufflepuff. People said the Harry was a parsletongue and that he had egged the snake on. But people were also saying that the snake had stopped after Harry had talked to it.

She thought they were lacking a little logic in declaring that Potter was the Heir of Slytherin just because he could talk to snakes. Besides, she reasoned, if he was Slytherin's heir, he wouldn't be hanging out with Muggle-borns and blood traitors. And he would have ended up in Slytherin. As he was in Gryffindor, Elaine thought it highly unlikely he was the Heir. It wasn't until much later she realized that if she had been willing to remember back when she had lived with her mother, she would have known who the Heir was and could have told Dumbledore. As it was, for the last few years, she had been blocking those years from her memory. Nonetheless, something told her that the Heir was not Harry Potter.

Because the Stewarts were going to visit their relatives in Sweden and Acrua was going to be dealing with some dangerous things (Elaine later found out had to do with her mother and her mother's will) and didn't want Elaine at the house, she was staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Not many others were, given that everyone was terrified that Potter was going to attack them.

Even fewer people signed up to stay after that Hufflepuff boy and Nearly Headless Nick ended up petrified. Elaine thought it was all very foolish and figured that Heir was probably going home for break anyway. She didn't spend much time in the common room during the break. She would spend hours in the owlrey, reading books from the library or out on the Quidditch pitch flying around on one of the school brooms. She realized that she didn't really have a talent with Quidditch, but flying itself was fun. She also spent a lot of time in the Great Hall where it was warm and there was generally food.

Not a thing happened until Valentine's Day. Elaine normally detested this day, but this year, with Lockhart's interference, she wanted to gouge her eyes out. The shock of the disgusting pink and all the frou frou around the hall was awful. She grabbed as much food as she could and stuffed it in her bag before sprinting out of the hall. She didn't have to deal with the dwarves delivering valentines though, for which she was incredibly happy. Her dislike for Lockhart was growing by leaps and bounds.

At least there was Quidditch to look forward to she had thought, but was later disappointed when the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was cancelled, as were all the rest of the games for the year. This time it was Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater that were attacked. That sealed the deal for Elaine. If she had any doubts that Potter was not the Heir of Slytherin, this wiped them out. Everyone else seemed to realize it by this point.

Not too long after that, the Ministry showed up at the school and took away Hagrid. Elaine supposed they wanted to look like they were doing something. On top of that, Dumbledore was forced to leave the school. It looked like the Heir was going to get free rein of the school and possibly kill people now. Then, the worst happened. Someone was taken into the Chamber. Ginny Weasley, a first year. Elaine wanted to comfort the twins, tell them that their sister would be alright, but she couldn't bring her self to lie to them like that so she stayed away. She didn't think this would end well, particularly with the message "HER SKELETON WILL LIE THE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER".

Still, it seems that Harry Potter came through again, rescuing her from whatever had possessed her. The year managed to end on a high note, despite the horrible year. Lockhart was not coming back; he seemed to have lost his memory. Though this disappointed quite a few girls, most of the student body was very happy with this.

This particular summer brought the death of their rat, Petey, and the addition of a pair of gerbils to the household. Elaine loved these new furry friends and so did Abby. By this point both girls had figured out what a Trace was and decided to try and get rid of theirs. They managed, though they really had no idea how they got rid of it. Unfortunately, the Ministry found out and had them come to a hearing. Both girls played the "I'm an innocent little girl, I didn't know what I was doing" card very well and Acrua still had enough pull in the Ministry to swing the trial in a favorable direction. The Ministry tried to put the Trace back on the girls but it failed to stay on them. The case had been handed over to the Aurors because it was suspected that serious Dark Magic was involved, though it was later proved there was none. Nonetheless, Elaine and Abby got on the bad side Scrimgeour, the Auror in charge of their case.

Acrua had been displeased with her granddaughter, but not angry. She reminded Elaine that making spells was dangerous and that she wanted the girl to do them under her supervision. The Stewarts were angry with Abby, and were on the verge of never letting her see Elaine again when Acrua stepped in and explained. That didn't stop them from grounding Abby for the rest of the summer holidays though. It turned out not to matter much, since Elaine wasn't allowed outside because of Sirius Black.

Elaine was glad to be going back to school; she was getting stir-crazy in the house. She sat with the Quidditch girls and was in a heated argument about whether the cobbing foul should have a bigger penalty when the train stopped. They felt a chill, but didn't understand what it meant. A dementor stopped at their compartment door. Elaine could hear her mother's voice and struggled to force her memories back into the oblivion she had kept them in for the past few years. She was on the verge of passing out when the dementor glided away. She finished her Chocolate Frog and felt better. When she got home for the Christmas holiday, she was going to ask her grandmother about them and how to stop them.

Elaine felt her happy bubble burst when Dumbledore said the dementors would be guarding the school entrances. She sighed thinking she was going to start going stir-crazy in the castle too. She hoped they caught Sirius Black soon so she could have some semblance of freedom back. She did find out almost two years later that Black was innocent, but at this point she knew him as a mass murderer.

The whole first week kept her from worrying too much about the dementors, as in every class the teachers impressed upon the class the importance of O.W.L.s. Elaine felt a touch ill whenever she thought of the upcoming exams and the teachers had assigned enormous amounts of homework. Elaine had no idea what she wanted to do with her life after school; she'd never really thought about it. She thought she would ask her grandmother, once it got closer to the appropriate time to pick. She thought vaguely about making a business; she'd always loved Zonko's in Hogsmeade.

Elaine was kept so busy she barely had time to write to Abby every week. She did like the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Lupin, even though he assigned them a lot of homework. She thought Abby was very lucky not to have to take the tests, but Abby told her she would be taking the O.W.L.s as well. Her parents were trying to see if they could get her to sit in on the Hogwarts exams.

Things went well enough up until Halloween. Elaine went to Hogsmeade with Angelina and Alicia. The three of them were laughing about Lee's constant attempts to get Angelina to go out with him. "I just know he's going to be more persistent this year," Angelina had told them, laughing.

"At least his commentary is interesting," Elaine had said. The Halloween feast had been pleasant enough and Elaine was finally starting to think the curse of Halloween was over. Over, that is, until they returned to the dormitory to find the Fat Lady missing, painting slashed. Elaine felt an upsurge of homesickness, a longing to be back where it was safe. Acrua's house had become a sort of refuge to her without her having realized it. So she felt less safe than usual under the circumstances as they slept in the Great Hall while the dormitory was searched.

This year's Quidditch didn't start out very well either. Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff because the dementors showed up on the field. The loss almost put them out of the running for the Quidditch Cup for this year. Fortunately, Hufflepuff lost to Ravenclaw by enough that Gryffindor still had a chance. The only thing before break that reminded them why the dementors were there was that the Gryffindor dormitory was broken into again, this time it was Fred and George's little brother who woke to Black slashing his curtains open.

Elaine had never been happier to go home for the holidays. She'd written to her grandmother about the dementors and she had decided to teach Elaine about the Patronus Charm, although mentioning that it was difficult magic. It took her nearly a year of daily practice to get it to form the silver tiger. She spent the break catching up with her friends, mostly spending time as a muggle. Ally, who turned out to be quite a delinquent, taught her how to pick locks.

The school year definitely improved after the break, despite another increase in the workload. Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw at Quidditch, meaning that if Gryffindor beat Slytherin by more than 200 points, they would win the Cup. Therefore, tensions were running very high between the two houses. Elaine met this tension head on when she ran afoul of Snape during Potions. Snape was irritable that she managed to do her potion perfectly and had been ready to count her off points for anything. She stared right back at him and refused to be intimidated. She'd worked damn hard on this potion and she was going to get the credit she deserved for it. Snape's upper lip had curled, but he said nothing. As Fred and George were in this class, he had bigger fish to fry. Despite all the prejudices, Gryffindor players survived to win the game and, unbelievably, the Quidditch Cup for the year.

The end of the year was nothing short of fabulous, excluding Black's second escape. Not only did Gryffindor win the House Cup for the third year running, but Elaine and Abby had been invited back to the beach by some of the friends they had made there. The 16 year-old Elaine had been deliriously happy to be going back, especially after all this dementor business. They would be leaving right from the station the moment the train pulled in.

The two girls had kept in touch with the boys, Abby passing on messages for Elaine through the cell phones. Surprisingly, Elaine had discovered that she was not only looking forward to seeing Abby, but also Eric, one of the boys that had invited them back. His parents owned the hotel. The other boy was his cousin Phillip. Last Elaine had heard from Abby was that her friend had a large crush on Phillip.

Unfortunately, the O.W.L.s stood between her and the beach, though by a miracle, Elaine managed to make it through them without writing the word "beach" more than once on every exam. Abby, also needing to take the tests, came to Hogwarts to take them and would be staying as a guest in the Gryffindor dormitories until the end of term. Abby felt she managed to do good on History of Magic, which her parents made interesting, Charms, and Ancient Runes. She felt she was passable enough in Transfiguration and Arithmancy, though she confessed she had totally botched the Potions. But none of it really mattered to her, since she was home schooled. She just needed them to be able to present them when she found a job.

Elaine was definitely more worried about her grades, but since she still had no idea what she wanted to do, McGonagall suggested she just take as many N.E.W.T.s as she could. She was especially proud of her Potions practical, as she managed to make the potion perfectly. She did well in Transfiguration and Charms as well, though she definitely barely passed History of Magic, if she passed at all. She managed Astronomy reasonably well, although she did fall asleep halfway through the exam. Defense Against the Dark Arts had been fun and when the instructor asked if she knew what the Patronus Charm was, she had answered by performing it. To her surprise, given that she was so nervous, the silver tiger came from her wand, the first time she had ever produced a corporeal one. Of course, when the surprised instructor asked if she would perform it again, all that came out was the silver wisps, which, needless to say, disappointed the instructor who convinced himself he had simply imagine the tiger. It took her another full six months to get it back. Needless to say, both girls had aced Care of Magical Creatures.

Elaine introduced Abby to her friends at school, including Moaning Myrtle, but for the train ride back to London, the two of them had claimed a cabin to themselves to discuss their summer plans. They wouldn't be spending the whole break at the beach; both families had gotten tickets to the Quidditch World Cup later on. But the beach was fun while it lasted. The boys took the girls out to the movies the first night. The next day Elaine and Eric ran into Abby and Phillip snogging under the hotel patio. Elaine thought it was actually pretty funny since she and Eric were looking for a spot to do exactly the same thing.

Their two weeks at the beach were incredibly nice, one of the happiest times Elaine could remember. But she should have known it wouldn't last. It was the last day there when it all fell apart. Eric had insisted on taking her down to the far end of the beach. She didn't want to go; saw some sketchy characters down there any time she looked. He said she was just being paranoid. She went, despite the bad feeling she was getting. Unfortunately, they stumbled into a drug deal gone bad. They ran, bullets whizzing over their heads. Afterwards, Eric seemed a little afraid of Elaine. This was the incident that Elaine talked so breezily about to her new employers years in the future. Abby really hated to go, but Elaine could hardly wait for the Quidditch World Cup.


	7. Potter From the Sidelines

**First of the two chapters promised. I also would like to ask any readers if they notice any inconsistencies with the Harry Potter books, in terms of timeline, terminology, or mistaken descriptions of places, people, or things to please let me know so I can correct the issue. I try to keep the story properly integrated as I can, which is why it has taken so long to do the chapters. Specifically, I would like to know about any things that Elaine knows but shouldn't since Harry Potter or one of the other characters does not discuss the knowledge in a capacity for her to know. Thanks to all the readers who have managed to bear with me while I researched everything for the chapters, even though it meant a very long time without an update. **

Chapter 7: Potter From the Sidelines

_Abby really hated to go, but Elaine could hardly wait for the Quidditch World Cup. _ Ireland vs. Bulgaria, and she was pulling for Ireland all the way. This game was supposed to be spectacular. Because their tickets specified, they had to be there a week early. The girls didn't really mind; there was plenty to see and do. Elaine absolutely loved the shamrock covered tents. She met some very excitable Irish folks, including a fellow Hogwarts student, Seamus Finnigan, a couple years younger than her.

The game was as interesting as predicted. That night, Elaine played her favorite parts over and over in her head. Perhaps fortunately, she never did get to sleep before the bad things started happening. She heard the screams and since she wasn't very tired, thought she might join the Irish in celebrating. But when she stuck her head out of the tent, she knew at once something bad was happening. There was the Muggle campground manager and his family suspended by a group of cloaked, hooded, and masked figures.

Fragments of buried memories surfaced unbidden, the screams from then mingling with the screams of the present. Death Eaters, she wondered how many she would know if their masks came off. Elaine fainted, but didn't realize it. Sometimes she was there, watching the Death Eaters' sport, and then she was other places, seeing things she had tried to block from her memory. And then the Dark Mark, in the sky, over places she half-remembered. It was disorienting and very disconcerting. She thought she might have screamed a couple times. She only realized she had been dreaming when she woke up in her bed, surrounded by furry animals. Her grandmother was dozing in the nearby chair.

Elaine couldn't remember how she had gotten home, but she figured her grandmother had brought her. "You'd better call Abby soon. She and her parents were very worried about you," Acrua had said, eyes still closed. Elaine grabbed the cell phone and called her friend right away. Abby asked how it had happened, but Elaine was evasive. She said she must have been hit by something, but couldn't really remember. After it was all done with, Elaine and Acrua never spoke of the incident again and by the time they'd gone to Diagon Alley to purchase the few things she would need for the next year, Elaine had successfully blocked all her bad memories again.

Elaine was excited to start what would probably be her most exciting and difficult year to date, given that she had achieved the Outstanding in Potions that let her continue. She wasn't very fond of Snape, but she rather liked mixing things together and watching them turn into something useful. She was also in Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. A busy workload, though the study periods would help. She'd also managed to get an O.W.L. in Astronomy, but just barely. As far as her grandmother had been concerned, she might have earned an Order of Merlin, First Class.

Despite the prevailing rain, the journey to Hogwarts was not without its entertainment. Elaine laughed as Fred and George bragged about their 3 O.W.L.s each and how they felt sorry for all the other poor students with no free time this year. She could hardly believe they'd all made to their sixth year. Angelina was discussing Quidditch captainship and since no one on the team had gotten the appointment in their letters, wondered who it would be since Wood was gone to Puddlemere United. "They can't very well give it to a player who isn't even on the team yet," she said reasonably.

"Well," said Alicia, "I heard there wouldn't be Quidditch this year at all. Like there's something going to take its place. The Slytherins are going on about something, but they won't say what exactly it is."

"Those Slytherins. Worse than a goblin and gold when it comes to privileged information," Katie Bell added. "What do you think, Elaine?"

Elaine started a little. She had been staring out the window, watching the rain across the windows. "Sorry, I was just zoning out a little. I'm really tired." She had been unable to fall asleep the night before.

"That's alright. We were discussing the shortcomings of Slytherin," Alicia laughed.

"Of which there are many, to be sure," replied Elaine. "Maybe we should go scope out the Slytherins, see if they'll inadvertently tell us something."

"Sounds like fun. I'm hungry anyway. Let's go find the trolley," Angelica said, winking.

A few minutes later found them, disappointed, back in their compartment, arms loaded with snacks. "Oh well," Elaine sighed as she munched on her chocolate frog. "At least we got some food out of the deal." Every time they had walked past a Slytherin compartment, all the talk stopped and the Slytherin's within simply smirked at the girls. "Who'd of thought Slytherins had brains?"

The girls laughed. "Oh look, there's Hogwarts. I'm sure Dumbledore will tell us at the banquet. Who needs the Slytherin's as informants?" Angelica said.

It was still raining when they got off the train and made their way to the carriages. She did not envy the first year, crossing the lakes in those boats. Elaine pulled her hood tight over her head, but she could see her hair starting to curl in the humidity. As she went to board the carriage, she patted the thestrals on the nose. The other girls didn't notice and Elaine didn't know if any of them could see the creatures. It seemed a bit rude to ask, "Hey, ever see anyone die?" Elaine could see them since they started riding in the carriages. After all, she'd seen her mother die. She mulled over her mother's death on the ride to the castle, wondering a bit about her episode at the World Cup.

Peeves was up to his usual tricks when they entered the castle. Knowing full well they were already wet, he was dropping water balloons on the hapless students heading for the Great Hall. Elaine sat down with the other girls and watched the other students coming in. Rain spared no one, she noted with a smirk, no matter how pure they thought their blood. Finally, it was time for the first years to get sorted. One of the boys was wrapped in Hagrid's coat, and looked as though he had taken a swim in the lake.

The hat sang its song, about the values each house prized, like usual, and the first years were sorted without a hitch. After Dumbledore's words, "Tuck in", the feast appeared and Elaine realized just how hungry she was. She forgot about the strange comments they Slytherins were making, just thinking about the food. "Could use a little thyme," she said once, as she took a heaping spoonful of soup.

At last, after all the desserts had been finished off, Dumbledore rose to speak again. He gave the usual Filch-isms and then proceeded to announce there was no Quidditch this year. Elaine sucked in a breath. Alicia had been right. "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy - but I'm sure you will all enjoy it immensely," Dumbledore continued. Just as he was about to announce what the event would be, the doors to the Great Hall were thrown open.

The man illuminated by the lightning from the ceiling was terrifying. He was all scars and missing flesh, with a wooden leg and electric blue eye that was spinning all around like it was possessed. Elaine couldn't help but stare as he walked by, heading up towards the head table. He shook hands with Dumbledore, then sat to his right at the table. Dumbledore introduced him as their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody. Dumbledore and Hagrid were the only ones who clapped, the rest of the Hall seemed too stunned to do anything but stare at Moody.

Dumbledore resumed his speech, stating that the Triwizard Tournament would be held at Hogwarts. Elaine only blinked at this. She'd never heard of it. "You're JOKING!" Fred practically shouted. It broke the tension in the hall and nearly sent Dumbledore off on a tangent about a joke he'd heard over the summer. McGonagall got him back on track however, and he proceeded to explain the tournament. Elaine was very excited to hear that other schools would be coming in October; she'd heard of several other schools across the world, but hadn't met any of their students as far as she knew.

She let herself imagine for a second what it would be like to win the tournament and all the glory that came with it. The prize money wasn't a bad bonus either. But of course there was a catch to it all. Only those of age could enter and Elaine wasn't yet. She joined in the outrage running through the hall. Dumbledore assured them it was for their safety, but Elaine thought that sixteen was good enough for all that too. With that said, Dumbledore sent them all off to bed. As she left the hall, she noticed the twins still standing at the table, glaring at Dumbledore. They were seventeen in April she knew, and she felt their pain. She was seventeen in May, not that much longer to wait.

The next morning, while she was eating breakfast and looking over her schedule, Elaine was half listening to the twins and Lee Jordan talking about magical means of aging. All of them sounded way to obvious to her, so she discarded them out of mind. She sighed when she saw that she had Moody on Mondays and Wednesdays. She wasn't sure what to make of him yet. He seemed like a Class A Nutter to her. To compound the issue, she had Snape on Mondays too, Mondays and Thursdays. Transfiguration on Tuesday and Thursday, Charms on Tuesday and Wednesday, Care of Magical Creatures on Wednesday, Herbology was a long period on Tuesdays, Fridays were study periods all day and then Astronomy at night. It was a busy a schedule as McGonagall had predicted.

The first lesson with Moody would stay with her forever. As would the second. He started the lesson by telling them to put their books away. Elaine got excited. That meant they would be doing something. "So, curses. You lot are behind on curses that's for sure. No doubt comes from changing teachers all the time. Since this is a N.E.W.T. level class, I'm going to be showing you all manner of illegal dark magic curses." The class was silent, but there was an air of anticipation slowly building. "To begin, we're going to start with the Unforgivable Curses. No sense in starting small. Take the worst and you'll be prepared for the worst. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked. They all jumped in their seats. "Now, name me one, someone? Yes, you there."

Moody pointed at Alicia. "The torture curse," she said hesitantly. "I forget what it's called." Moody pulled out a spider and made it larger so they could see it better.

"The Cruciatus Curse. _Crucio!"_ The spider curled up in pain. Elaine heard phantom screams and twitched a little. Her skin felt like it was on fire for a moment. Her mother had used it once on her, she recalled. She closed her eyes tight and waited for it to be over. Moody cut off the curse. "Another?"

"Well there's one called the Imperius Curse I think," put forth George. "Our dad told us about it."

"Yes, he would know all about that one. _Imperio_!" The spider leapt around and Moody instructed it to. A couple people laughed. Elaine was frozen. Loss of control was something she always feared. "What if I instructed this spider to kill itself, or maybe kill someone else? What could I do with total control over a person?" The laughs stopped and everyone sat in stony silence. "The last one?"

Elaine raised her hand slowly. "His favorite spell, the killing curse. _Avada Kedavra_,_" _she whispered the last two words. Moody looked at her strangely for a moment.

"Exactly. _Avada Kedavra_!" Then the spider was dead in a flash of green light. "No defense for this one. But the best defense is that the caster must mean it. I doubt any of you would hurt me at all if you all pointed your wands at me and cast it. But no defense is no excuse for ignorance. The best thing to do if a dark wizard casts a spell at you is to duck. Especially if it is green light. And how will you know? CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" They all jumped again. "And now, notes. There are several important things to know about each curse. We're going to be starting with the Imperius Curse next lesson, in detail, but for now, some basic notes on all three."

The rest of the lesson was notes, but Elaine's mind was elsewhere. Back to her mother. Somehow she had known all three curses, but she couldn't remember why she had known them. Her grandmother had never mentioned them she was positive. It had to be her mother then. But all that was fuzzy, forgotten and locked away.

Later she heard Moody transfigured Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him all around. Elaine smiled to herself at that, wishing that she had been there to see it. She'd never liked the Malfoy boy.

Their next lesson he put the Imperius Curse on them all. "It is possible to resist and I want you all to try." No one did anything close to resisting it seemed to Elaine. Then it was her turn. She heard the voice tell her to run laps around the room. No, she told it, holding her breath. It went back and forth until she blacked out. When she came to, Moody was looking down at her. "Not half bad there girl. Though perhaps not the best way to fight the curse."

He asked her to stay behind after class, which she did with some trepidation. "Have you ever been Imperiused before, by any chance?" he asked. Elaine thought hard about it. It was possible. There was plenty about her childhood that she didn't remember.

"I don't think so Professor."

"Ah, well I was just curious. That was a nice bit of resistance you put up. Although I would advise against holding your breath in the future. With a bit of practice, I'm sure you'll be able to throw off the curse entirely. See you next class." Elaine fled from the room, curiously afraid of the ex-auror. He felt familiar to her, but she knew she'd never met Moody before.

The weeks passed in a flash without anything odd, barring the one time she saw the twins in a corner, looking like they were up to something serious for once, and one afternoon there was a sign in the entrance hall. It announced that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations would be arriving at 6 pm on Friday October 30th. Lessons were ending half an hour early and they were all expected to stand out front of the school and greet the guests. The lessons bit didn't matter to Elaine; all she had was study periods anyway. She fairly bounced as she headed back to her dorm to write a letter to Abby to tell her. She knew Abby would want to know what the other school's were like. Only one week until she would find out, it was all so exciting.

The afternoon of October 30th found the entire school lined up on the steps, awaiting the other schools. Everyone was buzzing about how they could possibly be arriving. She heard broomsticks, apparition, and even a Portkey mentioned. Then Dumbledore announced he could see the Beauxbatons delegation. It was there, coming steadily closer, up in the sky. People shouted out what it might be. Dragon, she heard, and someone shouted "...it's a flying house!" She thought that guess was closest as it grew closer. A giant carriage came to a stop in front of the lines and the largest woman Elaine had ever seen stepped out of it. She was followed by the students, all dressed in pale blue silk. They look cold, she thought, pulling her robes a little tighter.

Not too long after the Beauxbatons students had filed into Hogwarts, a strange noise filled the air. It was Lee Jordan who spotted its origin, shouting "The lake! Look at the lake!" Elaine watched as a ship rose from the water slowly. As the students disembarked, Elaine noticed they were all wearing furs, which made them look a lot bulkier than they actually were. Among them, oddly enough, was Victor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker.

Once all the guests were seated in the hall, the Welcome Feast began. Krum and his lot sat at the Slytherin table and Elaine rolled her eyes. One more thing for them to brag about. Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch were also in attendance, but she didn't care too much about them. Ministry people in general tended to irritate her. The introduction of the Goblet of Fire was the prime event of the evening however. Silence reigned in the hall as Dumbledore gave his explanation. The selections were to be made the following night on Halloween. Elaine felt the foreboding with this; Halloween had not exactly been the best of nights the last three years. At the mention of the Age Line, she gave a little sigh. There went any of her hopes of entering the Tournament.

The next morning Elaine almost decided to avoid the Great Hall all day since the Goblet of Fire was out front in the entrance hall. But requiring sustenance, she ventured down for breakfast. She was just in time to see Fred, George, and Lee taking some Aging Potion. Fred stepped over the line and George jumped after him. Suddenly they were rocketed out of the circle and sprouted identical long white beards. Everyone laughed, her as well, and she went in for breakfast, admiring the bats that decorated the Hall. As she headed back up to the dormitory to get a few things, she saw Angelina put her name in the Goblet. On a whim she decided to visit Moaning Myrtle, since there was likely to be no one around.

Then came the long awaited announcement of the champions. Almost everyone was hardly eating, but Elaine felt that good food shouldn't be wasted and tucked in with gusto. At last the plates were cleared and the Goblet ready. The first name out was Victor Krum, not much of a surprise, but still cheer worthy. The next name was Fleur Delacour, a blond girl whose arrogant attitude annoyed Elaine a lot. Then it was Cedric Diggory. Elaine shrugged. There were worse people out there, even if it hadn't been Angelina. Dumbledore started to speak again when the Goblet spat out another name. Harry Potter.

At that Elaine was definitely surprised. It wasn't possible. Dumbledore should have stopped it from happening. Thinking on it now, knowing what the tasks were and what waited at the end, she was very glad it wasn't her name that had fallen from the Goblet. Elaine went to bed early that night, hoping that Harry's name coming out of the Goblet was the worst of the Halloween curse. She slept so deeply she didn't hear the celebration down in the common room, nor the racket the other girls made as they came in.

The weeks leading up to the first task were both exciting and a bit annoying, if truth be told. Elaine didn't read the Daily Prophet, having found that it only reported according to popular opinion and not fact at all if it could help it. That's not to say she didn't hear about that Rita Skeeter article however. It sounded disgusting to her and on one occasion she hexed a passing Slytherin who was making a beeline for Harry Potter, no doubt to quote it once again.

As if the Slytherins being obnoxious wasn't enough, Krum had started going to the library, which naturally meant his giggling entourage followed him. After the second time it happened, Elaine gave up and went outside for some peace and quiet to study. The weekend before the task was a Hogsmeade visit and Elaine went, if only to get away from the crush of people at the school. Abby would not be joining her this time so she stopped in to Zonko's to pick her out a gift. People gave her odd stares, being a sixteen year old girl all alone, but she ignored them and concentrated on blending into the surroundings. Invisibility took practice she knew and she was becoming quite good at it once again.

On the day of the First Task Elaine ran into Harry Potter. "Good luck," she told him in a low voice. He was going to need it, she felt sure. She was even more sure of it when they all had settled into the stands and Dumbledore announced what the first task was to be. The champions would have to collect a golden egg from their dragon. That didn't sound very fun to Elaine. Not one bit. In her voracious appetite for interesting information, she'd read a lot about dragons and the many types. She wondered which ones they'd be. A whistle was blown and Bagman came running out and got set up to do his commentary.

First was Cedric and the Swedish Short-Snout. Elaine cheered, if only to help overpower the other schools, and because he was a Hogwarts champion. Transfiguration was clearly his forte, as he demonstrated by transfiguring a rock into a Laborador. Elaine watched as the dragon slowly went for the dog. Cedric waited patiently for the dragon to take the bait and when he had gotten the dragon far enough away, scrambled for the egg. The dragon was a bit far from the nest by then, having chased the dog, but it noticed him and decided it preferred human to dog, or so it seemed to Elaine. The dragon spat a jet of fire, which caught Cedric in the arm, shoulder, and neck. It nearly got the rest of him too, but he rolled off the rock just in time.

Next was Fluer. She faced the Welsh Green. She was casting some sort of sleep charm, or something of the like, aiming for the dragon's eyes and mouth. Elaine wasn't familiar with the spell, but it didn't seem as effective on the dragon. It took a long while for the dragon to become tranced enough to be still, aside from its tail, which still twitched every so often. She climbed closer to the nest and almost had her hand on the egg when the dragon gave a loud snore and a gout of flame came out straight at her. He skirt lit on fire, but she didn't panic, just put it out calmly with water from her wand. Then she grabbed the egg and was done.

Third came Krum and the Chinese Fireball. At first he stayed hidden, well away from the dragon, aiming very carefully with his wand. He cast the Conjunctivitus Curse and it hit the dragon's eye dead on. Elaine watched with a grimace as the dragon stumbled around in pain crushing half the real eggs in its agony. Krum dodged its flailing limbs and spurts of fire, and finally snatched the egg from the nest unharmed.

Harry Potter was last, and his dragon looked like the worst of the bunch. It was a Hungarian Horntail, vicious and pointy nearly everywhere. First he summoned his broom to him, a fairly clever move she thought. She watched as he dodged flame spurts, taunting the dragon higher and higher. She gasped with the rest of the crowd when his dive took him nearly into the tail and the spikes caught his shoulder. However, he seemed to have had an idea of some sort and started taunting the dragon up again, dodging jets of fire and the nasty tail. He stayed just out of reach, and Elaine figured out his strategy at last. The dragon spread her wings and Harry dived. Elaine held her breath as he plucked the golden egg from the nest and flew to safety, over the stands. He was the quickest of the four, and at the announcement, she screamed loudly with her fellow Gryffindors, and many of the other students. The score stood with Harry and Krum tied for first, with 40 points each, Fluer next with 39 points, and Cedric last with 38. It was a close race so far it seemed. It was shaping up to be a fun tournament. And the after-party wasn't bad either, with Fred and George hawking their latest invention, Canary Creams. Well, there was the bit where Harry opened the egg to show everyone and it screamed, rather nastily, but otherwise it was a blast.

The announcement of the Yule Ball threw Elaine for a loop however. Dancing really wasn't her thing and while she appreciated Muggle music very much, she hadn't heard very much wizard music over the years to know much about it. Apparently the Weird Sisters were coming, although Elaine knew nothing about them. But a dance was a lot like a date, or so Ally and Lara had told her about theirs. Partners were important. But Elaine had never had much luck in that area, either scaring the boys off or fading beyond notice into the woodwork.

"Just my luck," she muttered darkly as she prowled the hallways after a particularly strenuous Potions class. Although, glancing about at what Hogwarts had to offer in terms of boys, she thought it wasn't such a bad thing after all. She wouldn't even consider a younger student; she was taller than most of them still. But those Weasley twins weren't bad looking, she mused. But she just shrugged and let it out of her mind. If she was asked, she'd go to the stupid ball, if not, sleep was always something she could use more of. Her head wasn't filled with romantic notions of what it would be like, any more than it was filled with sawdust. All the girls seemed far too concerned about who everyone else was going with in Elaine's opinion.

Two days before the ball and still unasked, Elaine was planning a nice evening to herself. It felt a bit silly to still be the only girl in her friends who didn't have a date, so she spent more time by herself, or out flying if she could manage it, despite the snow. Fred had asked Angelina and they seemed like a good pair, she thought. She wondered briefly who George was going with, but no one made mention of it. She went down to the lake to collect potion ingredients and see if the ice on the lake would hold her weight. She was very surprised when one of the Durmstrang boys crouched next to her and asked her what she was doing. She answered, evasively. He laughed and asked her if she would come to the ball with him. Ah, what the hell, she thought and said she would. She got the feeling she was a last ditch date, but all in all, she didn't care. He wasn't bad looking, although his accent was pretty thick. And at least she'd be able to tell Abby all about Durmstrang later.

Christmas arrived and brought presents and snow. She desperately wanted to join the snowball fight going on outside, with the Weasleys and Harry Potter, but none of them except the twins would know who she was. Even they had been looking at her with a sense of unfamiliarity the past year. Now she only had them in a couple classes and rarely saw them otherwise, so it wasn't that surprising to her. She faded in to the background around Angelina, Alicia, and Katie as well.

The dance was looking less thrilling to her each moment as it approached. Despite her beautiful grey dress robes, which looked stunning on her, everyone said, she was not looking forward to the dancing at all. Dancing to her own music was one thing; ballroom dancing was a completely different story. She met her date in the entrance hall, and they went in to dinner. Dinner was novel, with them ordering off a menu to their plates. A couple of times she saw her partner's eyes wandering towards a Beauxbatons girl, who she presumed was the original recipient of his invitation.

The champions led off the dancing, not too badly in Elaine's opinion, but she wasn't really in a position to judge such things. The dance floor soon filled up and Elaine and her date joined them. She tried very hard to enjoy herself and get lost in the music, and was mostly succeeding. Ten or so songs down the line, was a spirited dance in which there was much exchanging of partners. She danced with Lee Jordan, George, a couple of Ravenclaws, a Beauxbatons, a couple of Durmstrangs, and one Hufflepuff who tripped over her feet as many times as she did his. At the end of it she whirled out for some air and drinks and found herself very much alone. She scanned the hall for her date and spotted him over by a wall, snogging the Beauxbatons girl. Elaine rolled her eyes and sighed. She grabbed a drink and slipped out into the rose garden, finding many more people than she wished, most busy with each other, but a few sobbing to themselves.

Elaine didn't feel something as silly as this ball was worth shedding tears over. She had come, had fun, and since she wasn't much of a dancer anyhow, was ready to leave and find some nice quiet corner in which to curl up with the book she had been planning on reading. It was still too early to go back though, and she didn't want anyone's sympathy over what happened. So she decided to find a nice bush to hide behind and do a bit of spell inventing. She had this idea for a good joke product, but the charm itself was difficult to get to work properly. Heading for less lit and traveled pastures was a good decision on her part, as she noticed Snape blasting at rose bushes as he walked along with the Durmstrang headmaster.

There, hiding near the Herbology greenhouses, her attempts to produce the proper spell yielded a spell that immobilized and levitated its target, as an unlucky escaping chicken learned. She spent the rest of the night figuring out how she could modify the spell. One modification sent the chicken bouncing violently, another locked it in place, and yet another made it turn green and sprout leaves in place of its feathers. A glance at the sky told her it was nearly midnight and she didn't want to be caught wandering around alone this late. She restored the chicken to its normal state, though a bit more ruffled than usual, and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. She dodged all questions skillfully and slid happily into bed, having had a very satisfying night. Those were the happy days before the downward spiral her life would take.

The after-Christmas depression seemed to have hit hard this year, with the enormous load of homework most still had waiting for them. All Elaine had left was her Potions assignment; she still needed a few things for the tricky potion they would be concocting after holidays. Her ingredients were not the easiest to find, but with a little help from Professor Sprout and a few teensy unknowing hints from Snape as he attempted to help one of his pet Slytherins, she managed to get everything she needed. She would have loved to ask Hagrid, but whenever she went to knock at his cabin, there was no answer. Elaine had been very confused, until she finally got a look at that article the Slytherins were sniggering about. Well, Hagrid did have an affinity for monsters, but so did lots of people, and she didn't think it was anything to be worried about. Neither was his being a half-giant. If he hadn't had problems until now, he never would, in her opinion. In any case, the rest of the article was pure lies, as any intelligent person could discern. Bite from a flobberworm indeed. They didn't even have teeth.

Halfway through January was another Hogsmeade visit, but after hearing numerous students discussing plans they had made there with dates and friends from the ball, she decided that she really didn't want to go. Instead she stayed behind in the common room, taking advantage of the quiet to practice for her classes and finish up a little bit of homework. She was also awaiting a reply from Abby, to whom she'd written about the Yule Ball and Hagrid. She happened to glance out the window once or twice and noticed Krum diving into the lake. She shivered to herself and moved a little closer to the fire.

The day of the second task arrived and as she went down to the lake with the rest of the students, Elaine had a feeling it wasn't going to be as fun to watch as the other one had. Harry was nearly late; perhaps he had slept in. The whistle blew and the champions were off, Fleur and Cedric using the Bubble-Head Charm and diving into the cold lake. Krum transfigured himself partially into a shark, and Harry seemed to be walking very slowly into the lake. Then Harry began to sprout gills and webbing. Gillyweed, Elaine recognized. The champions vanished beneath the surface and all that was left to do was wait.

About half an hour in, Fleur came to the surface again, without her hostage. She looked as though she had been attacked, and was forced to return to the surface. Then the time limit was reached, and after a few minutes, Cedric and the Ravenclaw seeker reached the surface and swam for shore. A few minutes later, Krum and Granger followed. Finally, Harry made it, dragging the twin's little brother and a little blond girl. She waited impatiently for the score, and cheered loudly when they were announced. Harry and Cedric were tied for first, Krum and Fluer lagging behind. It wasn't so close between the schools anymore.

It was a long four months before the third task, but Elaine hardly noticed. Several Hogsmeade trips also came and went, but she didn't leave the castle on any of the occasions. As much as she had been looking forward to having the other schools here, she really wanted them gone now, truth be told.

The third task being announced as a maze was interesting to Elaine, but so was the discussion of Mr. Crouch being on the grounds that she overheard one evening in the common room. Potter, Weasley, and Granger were talking about it and it seemed as though Harry was involved. The name Crouch sounded familiar to her, in that deep, dark, foggy area of her mind, but realistically she couldn't see what help it might be, even if she could remember.

Elaine was too caught up in exams to worry too much about the third task. However, as the evening of the task wore on, she could feel the excitement building. This was it. Time to prove which school was the best. It was Hogwarts, she was sure, no doubts on it. Sitting in the stands with the rest of the students, she looked into the entry of the maze. Beyond a few feet was obscured in a sort of fog. That was disappointing, though it seemed having higher seats wouldn't have helped either. She sighed. Another one of those tasks they couldn't really watch, though she supposed the judges might have some way to know what was going on. The Minister of Magic was filling in for Mr. Crouch, whose disappearance was definitely a thing of suspicion now.

Harry and Cedric were the first to enter the maze and she soon lost sight of them. Then the whistle blew again and Krum followed. Finally, Fluer entered as well. All was quiet in the stands. The talking began, discussing what could possibly be in the maze. Elaine didn't feel like joining them, and was very glad she had thought to bring her potions book. That exam was the following afternoon, and though she always got good marks, it always helped not to give Snape any reason to dock points. After a while someone screamed from inside the maze. Elaine looked up and stared hard at the maze, trying to figure out who it had been. It sounded like Fluer perhaps, but young men could all still reach that pitch. There were a few ominous looking red flashes that could be seen through the fog, causing to glow briefly, but denying any detail.

Not long after the scream, red sparks shot up and they knew one of the champions was out. The only question was which one. It wasn't from the same place as the scream, so it wasn't likely the same champion. The screamer might be too incapacitated to send sparks, Elaine considered. The sparks were apparently over Krum, who had been stunned. That was curious, since if he was stunned he wouldn't be able to shoot the sparks. She wondered why he'd been stunned anyway. Still, it was decent of the other party to have him collected before he was eaten by something. Elaine fancied she heard the sound of a Blast-Ended Skrewt from the maze once or twice. One of the people patrolling the perimeter of the maze came across Fleur, also stunned, and she was taken out to be revived. It was a bit strange, Elaine thought. Two champions stunned. They weren't supposed to be attacking each other. And honestly, it didn't track with any of the champions' personalities. She started to get a bad feeling about this task. All that was left was Harry and Cedric, a Hogwarts victory, yes, but neither of them seemed the type to stun their competition unless attacked first.

Rita Skeeter had been writing that Harry was crazy, disturbed and probably violent, but her article could not be taken seriously by Elaine, who considered most of what she wrote to be lies or misinterpretations of fact. How she got her intel was sketchy enough. All that aside, Harry Potter wasn't going to go around attacking older students anyway. They knew more than him and were likely to toast him instead. There were pieces that weren't making sense, but Elaine simply went back to her book. If by the end of the task, the puzzle hadn't come together she would be very surprised. All she had to do was wait and all her questions would be answered.

Suddenly, Harry and Cedric appeared at the edge of the maze, Triwizard Cup in hand. Elaine shut her book with a snap and took a closer look. Dumbledore and the other judges were running over; neither boy was moving. Dumbledore rolled Harry over and then all hell broke loose. People were screaming, Diggory was dead. Somehow, he was dead. The way Harry was behaving told Elaine that he had not killed Cedric. But all the same something had, or someone. Elaine felt a chill. It was worse than she had anticipated. She noticed with a bit of surprise that Moody grabbed Harry and dragged him away, presumably back to the castle. He was taking Harry alone and that didn't seem like the thing to do to a fourteen-year-old who'd just seen a fellow classmate and possible friend die. She also noticed Dumbledore and a couple other teachers head off quickly the same way, when Dumbledore noticed Harry was gone. She looked back at the school, wondering what in the world was going on.

A few mornings later there was an announcement by Dumbledore that they were all to leave Harry alone, refrain from asking questions, and to absolutely not ask him to give his account of what happened in the maze. Elaine was happy to oblige though most of the school was already whispering possibilities. As at the beginning of the year, she believed Dumbledore would tell them everything they needed to know, and until he was ready, she would wait. For the final feast, there were black drapes up, instead of any house colors. The mood was also more subdued than usual. Dumbledore asked for a toast for Cedric, and Elaine obligingly raised her glass. Then came the greatest shock of all: he told them that Cedric was murdered by Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort was back and Elaine felt a great sense of foreboding. They lifted a toast to Harry as well, though with disgust she noticed many of the Slytherins remain seated and goblets on the table.

Elaine spent the ride back on the train pondering what was going to happen. It was clear by now that Fudge was denying that Voldemort was back. She wasn't sure how her grandmother would take it. She noticed the Malfoy boy and his goons head down the corridor, followed a moment later by Fred and George, wands out. She really hope they were going to hex them good. When the train arrived, she waited until almost everyone was gone before heading down to the end of the car to disembark. On the way she nearly stepped on Malfoy and his buddies, hexed up to the ears. Smothering a laugh, she looked around. Inside the compartment, Harry was handing the twins his winnings. Not wanting to seem a snoop, she continued on her way, stepping carefully on Malfoy's stomach as she did so. On the platform her grandmother waited, along with Abby. Being home again somehow made everything that had happened less scary. As she hugged her best friend, she thought that maybe it would be alright. It was summer and the girls had many plans. She would drown her worry in fun times and be ready to face another school year.


	8. It's All Downhill From Here

**The last of the promised chapters. Please drop a review if you have the time. **

Chapter 8: It's All Downhill From Here

_It was summer and the girls had many plans. She would drown her worry in fun times and be ready to face another school year._

When Elaine and her grandmother were safely behind the closed door of their house and Abby had left for her home, Elaine told her grandmother what Dumbledore had said. That Voldemort was back and he'd already killed. Acrua's face did not change expression as Elaine relayed what had happened, the way it was told to her. "Can it really be true?" Elaine asked, frightened of what it meant. She trusted Dumbledore absolutely, but Voldemort back? That was a whole new can of worms that burst open, if it was true.

"It can, love. It can and it is." Acrua looked sad for a moment. "Looks as though I will not get to spend much time with you this summer, Elaine. I'm so sorry. But there are things that must be done, and must be done quickly. Don't worry about it, love. I'm sure you'll still have fun without me."

Elaine frowned. This wasn't like her grandmother at all. "What's going on? You can't just run off all the time and not tell me what's happening. It's not fair."

Acrua gave a sigh. "Alright. As it so happens, I was already aware that Voldemort is back. Sirius, that dear boy, came to tell me."

"Sirius, as in Sirius Black the mass murderer?" Elaine was astonished.

"He's quite innocent, love. He was falsely accused and imprisoned. A tragic story, but one that can wait. I was and am once again, a member of a secret society devoted to destroying Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore started it the first time around and I was worried for Jenevra, so I joined to make sure she didn't get hurt. And, when you were born, I worried about you as well, in such an environment. I confronted Jenevra about it once and she called me a crazy old bat. Well, in any case, the Order has started operations again. I must do what I can to put an end to that evil man that lead to the death of my daughter. My contacts must be reached, certain things put in motion. Therefore, I am truly sorry, but I must be away for much of the summer. The Stewarts will be glad to help if you need anything while I'm gone."

It felt as though an enormous weight was pressing on Elaine from above. Her world felt like it was slowly turning upside down and she might fall off it. She couldn't think of anything to say so she turned around and marched up the stairs to her room. The ferret, Taw, slid up the stairs like liquid after her, clearly worried about his cooking companion.

The next morning Elaine woke early, but didn't feel like getting out of bed. She didn't feel like facing the reality of the world and wished she had some dreams to dive into. She hadn't dreamt in a long time. Her dreams had always been nightmares, until she forced herself to stop dreaming. Despite her unwillingness to move from her bed, she gathered her energy and rolled out of it. It was summer after all. Downstairs, Taw had breakfast on the table and her grandmother was just finishing.

"Elaine, love, I'll be leaving in a little while. I won't be back until next week if everything goes well, at most a week longer if it doesn't. Be a dear and tell the Stewarts what Dumbledore said. I can't believe you haven't told Abby yet."

Elaine turned pink. She'd been scared to tell her best friend, because she didn't think Abby would believe her. "They won't believe me. Everyone just believes what the stupid Prophet says," she said sullenly.

Acrua looked sharply at her. "Of course they'll believe you. But they need to know and I'm leaving, so you must be the one to do it."

"Alright. I'll tell them this morning."

Her grandmother smiled. "There's a good girl. Don't worry, love. I'll be back before you know it. Why don't you go down to that pet shop today. I know they've got some of those gerbils you were so interested in." Then, grabbing her coat and waving briefly to her granddaughter, Acrua Apparated.

The house was very quiet after her departure. The only pets left were Taw and the two cats, Mugwy and Patches. It felt almost too empty to Elaine, who hurriedly finished her breakfast, then pulled out her cell phone to see if Abby was up yet. Ten more minutes found her at the Stewarts' doorstep, ringing the bell. Abby's mother opened the door with a smile. Elaine felt a guilty squirm in her stomach.

Abby and her father were seated at the kitchen table when Elaine walked in. Mr. Stewart was reading a Muggle paper, Abby texting furiously on her phone. Their gymnastics classes wouldn't start for another couple weeks, so there was plenty of time to run around the city with their friends. Abby had also mentioned just the two of them going on a trip to the beach, since she'd gotten her driver's license, as she rode back with Elaine the day before. "Elaine!" Abby said brightly, pouncing on her best friend with a large hug. "What's up?"

Elaine wasn't sure how to begin. "Um, well, er, my grandmother asked me to tell you something. All of you." The Stewarts' faces looked at her encouragingly. "Dumbledore told us at the end of the year that...that...that Voldemort is back." The last bit came out in a rush, but she could see from their faces that Mr. and Mrs. Stewart had understood. All the color had drained from their cheeks and they were sharing almost identical expressions of horror.

"Oh no! That's terrible news!" Abby exclaimed, apparently not understanding whatever it was her parents knew. "Whatever happened? Does it have something to do with why you didn't write me at all for the last couple weeks of school?"

"He came back somehow, I don't know how. Harry Potter saw it, he was there. Voldemort murdered this boy, Cedric, who was there too. It happened at the end of the third task." Elaine was aware this was hardly a satisfactory or informative explanation, but none of the Stewarts pressed to hard for information.

"Thank you for telling us, Elaine," Mrs. Stewart said gently.

Elaine felt like she should leave. There was clearly something the Stewarts needed to tell Abby and she didn't want to intrude on it. But she needed to get the details of the beach trip from Abby. "Well, I only came to tell you that and get the beach plans, then I've got to run some errands."

Abby smiled again. "Oh yes, it will be loads of fun! We're leaving next Saturday. Phillip has arranged with his aunt and uncle to save us a room. Make sure you get here early, so we can get there sooner!" She laughed. "I'm sure we'll see each other between now and then and I'll tell you all about the plans I've got for us."

With a smile and a promise to see Abby later that week, Elaine left the house and headed towards the pet shop. True to her grandmother's word, there was a bunch of gerbils in the display window. She went inside the shop, to get out of the sun, and looked at them closer. There were four different litters, all separated, and split into males and females. Two females from one litter immediately caught her attention and she knew she was going to buy them. The owner of the pet shop, by now very familiar with Elaine and Abby, gave her large box to put her selections in. He let her pick up the gerbils she wanted, since he knew how good she was with animals. She picked up the two she liked, a natural colored one and a grey one with a black tail, whom she already named Albright and Jenny.

Stepping back, she looked at the other litters again. Three more females caught her eye, from a different litter than the first pair. She pulled them out, naming them Piper, Nutmeg, and Jerika. Then she found two more she just couldn't leave behind, calling them Shiromi and Hige. Lastly, three males from the one litter left, grabbed her attention. Dagen, Marc, and Kendrick. With ten gerbils now in her possession, none of the others seemed to jump out at her, which is to say, seemed to have a personality.

Box in hand, she set off for home, happy feeling bubbling in her chest. Her first order of business once home was to instruct the cats that the gerbils were not to be eaten, under any circumstances. Food-wise, toy-wise, they were off limits. The cats were not to hurt them. Elaine let them out of the box, giving them free run of the house. Instead of running off, they all gathered around her and she took them one at a time, putting them in her hand and stroking their tiny furry backs and tails, rubbing them under the jaw as they liked.

When she hung out with Ally and Lara that week, they were full of stories from their schools. They had long since ceased pestering her to tell them about her school. She listened to their stories with amusement and wondered at a life without magic. But hey, there was nothing like a couple of dragons to spice life up, she thought happily. They also were excited about the upcoming gymnastics competition. Elaine was also signed up for it, via Abby, since registration was during the school year. She had already worked out her routine, and thought she really had a shot at winning.

The week past in a flash and Saturday morning found her in a car, headed to the beach with Abby. Her friend was babbling on and on about Phillip and the plans she had made. Elaine listened good-naturedly, but all Abby's talk about Phillip reminded her of his cousin Eric, whom she had briefly dated the previous summer. They hadn't talked since that incident, and since his parents owned the hotel she was bound to run into him. She imagined it would be awkward and uncomfortable for the both of them.

Their first meeting was just as she had predicted. Eric was manning the check-in counter when they arrived. He stared in turns at Elaine when he thought she wasn't looking and at the floor when he saw she was or he was talking to her. For her part, she answered what needed answering and not a word more. As he took them to their room, he finally looked her in the eye and said, "It's been awhile. How are you, Elaine?"

She was taken aback by the question. She smiled to cover her surprise and answered him. "A year. I'm doing pretty well, yourself?"

"Well, the hotel lost a lot of business the past year. Those fellows we ran into were only the tip of the iceberg. One of the crazy bastards came around and shot a bunch of guests out near the water. Pretty much the end of our decent rep and all. I've had to fill in for a lot of the jobs since we had to lay off so many people. But aside from all that, I'm just fine. Thanks to you, really." With that he left, leaving her standing at her door somewhat bewildered.

The week at the beach was not as awkward as she had expected. After that starting coldness between them, Eric warmed up and was as nice to her as he had been the summer before. Elaine kept her distance though. She was not in the habit of going back. The thing was done, she had moved on. He was nothing more than a friend now. The awkwardness only seemed to creep in when they were with Abby and Phillip, who were a very loving couple. At that point, the two of them would clear their throats and look away, embarrassed.

All too soon, for Abby, and in just the right time, for Elaine, the week was over. After tearful goodbyes on Abby's part and a cheery parting wave from Elaine, the girls set off back home. On the way back, Abby told Elaine of travel plans that she hadn't wanted to mention before. The Stewarts were going to visit family in America for most of the remaining break. That meant she would miss the gymnastics competition among other things that had been planned. Elaine's hopes for a fun summer were crashing down around her ears. First her grandmother, and now her chief partner in mischief and mayhem.

This particular summer, aside from working on their routines for the competition, Elaine's gymnastics teacher also decided to teach them fencing as a treat. Holding the sword and setting into the proper stances came naturally to Elaine. She decided she liked swords and was going to practice everyday. She was a little sad that Abby had to miss out on all of this, but resolved to teach her friend the next time she could.

The summer was a hot one, and rather than go outside, Elaine started keeping to the house more and more, playing with her new pets. She loved the gerbils more every day she spent with them. One particular day, August 12th, she remembered, she had been sending the gerbils through an obstacle course she built in the living room. She'd been at it all night and it was getting near dawn. Her grandmother had arrived late, it was already getting light outside, and quite a bit more flustered than usual.

"Dumbledore must know they've changed the time and place!" she said frantically to herself as she hunted for a bit of parchment. After scribbling down a note onto a shred of parchment, Acrua handed it off to Patches. "Dumbledore, Patches, if you would please." Then she collapsed into the armchair with a sigh.

"Grandma, what's wrong?"

"There were Dementors in Little Whinging, after Harry Potter no less. Boy used a Patronus to ward them off and the Ministry pinged him for it. He's to have a Disciplinary Hearing today, but I've just found out through some of my contacts that it is to be a full criminal trial down in Courtroom 10 and instead of being at 9 A.M., it's at 8! I do believe that Dumbledore was told 11, so there is some serious Ministry abuse of the law going on. That poor boy. Fudge has it out for him."

Elaine could believe it. Fudge was keeping power now by attempting to destroy the credibility of both Dumbledore and Harry Potter, one who was venerable and was nearly always believed and the other who had witnessed Voldemort's return, the very thing the Ministry was avidly denying.

"Come, love, we should both get some sleep."

A few days later was the gymnastics competition and Elaine was so nervous, she hardly ate anything that morning. Her grandmother promised to come if she could make it. As she stretched and warmed up, she searched the crowd for her grandmother, but couldn't see her. Ally and Lara looked as nervous as she felt, but she gave them warm smiles and wished them luck. In the absence of her best friend Elaine had been spending a lot more time with them lately. A number of time this summer, Ally had nearly gotten Elaine arrested, but she had loved every minute of it. Lara was a lot less intense and active, movies and parks were more her speed.

The girls from the other schools didn't stand a chance. The three of them swept the board, Elaine claiming 1st, Lara 2nd, and Ally a close 3rd. Elaine thought she might not have won if Abby had competed, but she was proud of her trophy nonetheless and couldn't wait to show it to her best friend. Her happiness was slightly marred by disappointment. Her grandmother never showed up to the competition, nor the house until several nights later, at which point she went to bed exhausted.

The last week of break she hardly saw Abby, who had finally returned, and Acrua was gone as well. Elaine went to Diagon Alley by herself and bought all her school supplies. She had avoided going outside for as long as possible; all the happy faces of people having fun made her feel all the more alone. Then, September 1st arrived along with the Hogwarts Express.

If she had known it was the last time she would see her grandmother, she might have done a better job of goodbye. As she boarded the train, Elaine was gloomy and despondent. She had barely given her grandmother a distracted wave through her cabin window. The summer had not been particularly fun, nor had been reading the scraps of the Daily Prophet her grandmother left lying around occasionally. Dumbledore, cracked? She'd sooner believe his beard had fallen off and he'd shaved his head. But it wasn't shaping up to be a pleasant year either. Elaine almost considered not going; she was of age after all. But then she didn't really know what to do with herself out of school and there were still things she hadn't learned yet that could always be beneficial. Like that potion Snape had hinted at they would be making this year, Veritiserum.

As she wandered the corridors in search of her friends, Elaine saw Harry Potter in one of the compartments. She was happy to see him, because it meant Dumbledore had come through again and Harry wasn't expelled. She finally found the compartment with the Quidditch girls and sat down with them. Angelina was happily discussing her plans for the Gryffindor team this year, having been made captain.

When they arrived at Hogwarts and left the train Elaine noticed that Hagrid was not there to take the first years. She was a little worried about it, since the previous year he had been gone for a time because of a Daily Prophet article. Deciding to hope that he would be back, she followed her friends to the carriages. In the Great Hall, she looked down the staff table while waiting for everyone to file in and the sorting to begin. There was an ugly toad of a woman dressed all in pink sitting there and with a sinking feeling Elaine realized she was likely the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. With that much pink involved she didn't think she'd be getting along well the woman. She'd poked through the Slinkard book as well, which had been assigned to the N.E.W.T. students in addition to the younger classes. It had been dull and a bit depressing, not to mention incredibly useless.

Finally, it was time for the sorting. The song the hat sung was about the division of the houses and the departure of Slytherin. It was an interesting story, a part of which she'd heard three years ago when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. But interesting or not, it was strange. Instead of describing the traits of each house like usual, it barely mentioned them, choosing to give a warning and tell the school to unite from within in its place. It left her with a wholly uneasy feeling that only got worse as the night went on. The feast was full of wonderful food, but she hardly ate any of it; the glaring pink from the staff table was making her oddly sick.

Dumbledore began his announcements, introducing the Care of Magical Teacher and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. Then as he continued, Umbridge stood up and made an annoying fake cough, _hem hem_, to interrupt his speech. Elaine was aghast at this. The pink toad started to make a speech, in a girly, simpering voice and tone that sounded as if she was talking to five-year-olds. When she suggested that they would all be great friends, the twins gave simultaneous "Yeah, right"s. As the speech droned on, Elaine stared firmly at the table, but taking in the words disgustedly. The Ministry was coming to Hogwarts and she was not happy about it.

When at last the speech was over, the announcements done, Elaine rose with the rest of the students to go to bed. She noticed that the twins' brother and Granger were the new prefects, leading the first years to the dormitory. She wasn't enough of a leader to be chosen as a prefect, and it seemed like too much work involving people for her to care for it. As she walked amid the crowds, she heard lots of whispers about Harry Potter, mostly rude and along the lines of the Daily Prophet. She sent a number of poisonous glares out into the crowds. If people didn't believe Dumbledore, there was no helping the fools, she thought.

As she walked out of the dormitory the following morning, with an air of reluctance, she noticed the Weasley twins had put up an add for what sounded like product testers. It sounded dangerous, but at the same time, a little fun. She headed off to her classes feeling a little better that she did not have the Umbridge woman on Monday's, nor Snape, although the latter she had become very adept at dealing with.

Her first lesson with Umbridge later that week cemented her dislike of the woman forever. Umbridge spent the first ten minutes of the class coaxing them to greet her as she wanted. Her class had never been particularly obedient, and this was something that they were very unenthusiastic about. Elaine, sitting all the way in the back, did not open her mouth once. "Wands away and quills out," Umbridge sang to them. Elaine had not taken her wand out to begin with; the book for the class had been "Defensive Magical Theory", and thus she figured there would be no actual magic involved. She had been wholly correct.

As they were instructed to read the first chapter, "Basics for Beginners", Elaine pulled out a thin volume on inventing spells and slipped it into the Slinkard book, right where the first chapter began. Then, pretending to read what she was supposed to, she eagerly dove in. There were no complaints about using defensive magic; by this time they had all heard the tale of what had occurred in Harry Potter's class.

Because most of her friends at Hogwarts were on the Quidditch team, she attended the Keeper tryouts that Friday. Elaine wanted to support Angelina, who, now that she truly had to deal with the team, was fiercer and quite a bit more stressed than usual. There were seven people to try out, including Ron Weasley. He was one of the top three competitors, although the other two did better. Elaine watched the other four troop off the field with varying amounts of disappointment clear on their faces. Angelina talked to each of the other three in turn, then shook hands with the Weasley boy, clearly her choice. The celebration in the common room was lively, and as Elaine excused herself for bed, she noticed several first years who appeared to have had recent bloody noses. She put this down to Fred and George testing their products and wondered when her product would be ready for testing. The large amount of homework this year had not allowed her much time to work on her spell.

Although she did not normally attend Quidditch practices, Elaine went to the first one of the year, partially to show her support of Angelina, and partially because she saw the Slytherin team and followers head out to the pitch as well. Wanting to be as far away from them as possible, she sat on the opposite side of the pitch, though not five minutes into practice, she wished she had sat within hexing distance. Hearing the Slytherins insulting Angelina made the anger rise inside her. If the Gryffindor team hadn't been in her way, she would have sent numerous curses at the Slytherins. After a bad throw from Ron, Katie's nose began to bleed and whatever the twins gave her to stop it only made it worse. After Katie fell off her broom, it was clear that practice was over. It had been dismal. Elaine was not feeling very comfortable about the Quidditch Cup this year.

Not too long after that, Elaine got another warning that this was going to be a painful year at Hogwarts. Umbridge was made the High Inquisitor, which sounded foreboding to her as she peeked at Alicia's Daily Prophet at breakfast. She rather hoped that she would see McGonagall inspected, but thought that wasn't likely; she believed that Umbridge was teaching whenever she had Transfiguration. However, she did see Flitwick inspected during Charms. Umbridge lurked in the corner like a fat pink spider, taking notes. Flitwick was cordial with her, as polite as he would be to any guest. She hardly asked him anything, but near the end of class asked Alicia what she thought about the class and how the lessons usually were. Alicia, who didn't look at all thrilled to be talking to Umbridge, answered politely nonetheless. Her report was that the classes were really good and that nearly their entire year had passed their Charms O.W.L.s and other exams, as evidenced by the large N.E.W.T. class. Elaine had spent the whole class glaring and generally making rude gestures at Umbridge, who hadn't even noticed. Elaine was disappointed with this, but also somewhat relieved at her invisibility. She'd seen the scars on Harry Potter's hand, even though he was always careful to hide them. She didn't mind letting a teacher know that she thoroughly disliked them, but pain was hardly one of her favorite things.

No more of her classes were inspected, which was slightly disappointing, since it would have been great to see Umbridge get what she deserved. Umbridge's inspection of McGonagall was already a widely discussed story, and Elaine wanted to see her go up against Snape. That was sure to be a show. Umbridge had permanently replaced Snape as her least favorite teacher, partly because she actually learned something in Snape's class, and she wanted to see Snape win somewhat.

The next few weeks passed in a sort of haze, punctured only by a run in with Draco Malfoy, who was a new Slytherin prefect. He came across her one afternoon, sitting outside with a book. She was a lone Gryffindor and he was out exercising his full authority as a prefect. Elaine had been writing notes on the stone wall next to her with her wand, the glowing words stuck to the wall. She found that it helped her think sometimes, to organize her thoughts this way. The spell wasn't permanent, but Malfoy came up to her with a smug smile on his face.

"That's a detention," he said nastily, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy Parkinson was also there, trailing a little behind. "Defacing school property."

Elaine, who loathed interruptions at times like this, looked up sharply at the set of them. Two Slytherin prefects and their groupies, one of whom had insulted Angelina all those days ago at Quidditch practice. She'd been longing for some revenge. And here it was, falling right into her lap. She smiled nastily back at them. Pointing her wand right at Malfoy's nose, she said, "Oy, little Malfoy brat. You ever try to give me a detention again, I'll transfigure you into a ferret and send you back to mummy by owl post. Then she can fix you, if you're not eaten for dinner first."

Malfoy's face went whiter than usual, remembering the previous year. Elaine then turned to Pansy Parkinson. "You stupid cow, next time you insult one of my friends, I will hex you beyond recognition, which in your case would be an improvement. Has anyone ever told you that you look that a fat little troll? Oh and by the way, _your_ hair looks like a pile of dog crap on your head." She stood up, waved her wand so all her wand notes transferred to a bit of parchment, and started to walk away.

"My father will hear about this. You'll be expelled, just you wait and see."

Elaine slowly turned around, disgust evident on her face. "Pathetic. You do that, little Draco. You tell daddy about the mean girl. I doubt you even know my name. But I know loads about you and your family. I know all those nasty little things your father gets up to while he's playing generous donor and saint around the Ministry. That secret room where you've got all that lovely Dark Magic stuff stashed. I'll expose it all, just try me." Without another look at Malfoy, who had gone wide-eyed in apprehension, she walked away. She didn't really know where she'd gotten that information; it was another one of those things from that fuzzy time of her life. Obviously she'd remembered it deep in her mind and as she got angry it sort of slipped out. Sometimes it happened, things would trigger memories buried deep in her brain, usually teensy tidbits of information about various people (mostly Death Eaters or dark magic practicioners), things that weren't public knowledge.

The week before the first Hogsmeade visit, Elaine had an accident with her spell creation. She finally had had time to work on her inventing, and had, for the moment, decided to work with the spell she'd discovered the previous year as opposed to finding the spell that she needed to make her joke product work properly. That bit still stumped her, but she thought if she left it alone and made it through the year in Charms, something would occur to her. As she was attempting several variations on the spell, something went wrong. Whatever she had done, she was never sure exactly what it was, caused an enormous backlash. Perhaps it was a charm on her practice chicken that was supposed to protect it from predators, or perhaps it was all the magical charge the chicken had stored from her previous castings upon it. Whatever the cause, the backlash sent her flying ten feet and put her into a sort of magical coma.

When she woke up a week and a half later, she was in the hospital wing. Her friends had dropped off get well presents, although none of them were there in person. However, Moaning Myrtle was there, floating near Elaine's bed and looking a little disappointed that she hadn't died. Elaine smiled at the ghost however, and thanked her for waiting by her bedside. Moaning Myrtle disappeared a short while later, as Madam Pomfrey came over to see how Elaine was doing.

Madam Pomfrey told her what had happened, at least the part she was certain of. Elaine had broken her arm when she was thrown, but that had been mended within moments of her arrival in the Hospital Wing. Apparently a lost first year had come across her and gotten help. Madam Pomfrey was most interested in what had caused the coma; she had been unable to wake Elaine from it. Apparently her state had not been serious enough to send her to St. Mungo's. Although Elaine remembered clearly up until the backlash, she pretended that her memory of the event was fuzzy, saying that she had been practicing a spell for one of her classes and that she may have cast it wrong and produced a wholly different and unexpected result. Madam Pomfrey accepted this explanation with an air of skepticism, and instructed Elaine to spend each night in the Hospital Wing for at least two months. Spells gone wrong often had long-lasting effects, and Madam Pomfrey wanted to make sure that Elaine was fully recovered. And, Elaine suspected, to keep an eye on her. The only other time she'd been to the Hospital Wing was her first year, when she had been very homesick. It had caused her to become physically ill and after slipping out the Hospital Wing in the middle of the night, Madam Pomfrey had easily cured her and put her to bed, scolding her for coming after students were supposed to be in their dormitories.

With great reluctance, Elaine agreed to the terms of her release from the Hospital Wing. She immediately sought out her friends, who were happy to see her awake again and had notes from her classes for her. There was also a new Educational Decree, disbanding all clubs and teams with the allowance for re-forming with Umbridge's permission. Angelina was concerned about the Gryffindor Quidditch team being allowed to play again, and it was stressing her out. They also confided in her about a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group that was being formed by Harry Potter and his friends. Elaine thought it sounded like loads of fun, but as her nights were going to be spent confined to the Hospital Wing, she doubted she would be able to join in. Maybe once she was free from that restriction, she would be able to go to meetings, although no time had been established yet.

Things moved on, Angelina was allowed to re-form the Quidditch team, and Elaine was still spending her nights in the Hospital Wing. She had set about claiming a bed she liked the position of, and making the space hers, since she was going to be sleeping there for a while. She was prone to randomly dropping into a catatonic state, a side-effect of what had happened, which happened to look a lot like she had eaten a Fainting Fancy. Fortunately, she was sitting down most of the time when this occured. Her teachers had been warned of this by Madam Pomfrey and her friends were very good about giving her notes she may have missed. Somehow, perhaps with all the willpower she had, she managed to avoid this in Snape's class; she didn't want to tempt his leniency of this sort of thing. However, due to the timing, it meant she spent most of Umbridge's class knocked out, not that it was noticeable or detrimental to her learning in that class.

Elaine missed the first meeting of the newly named Dumbledore's Army, mostly due to an untimely collapse in McGonagall's office, where the professor had been giving her a short recap of the lesson and allowing Elaine to practice the Transfiguration spell they had learned. Elaine had managed the spell satisfactorily enough to avoid extra homework, but on her way out had suddenly dropped to the ground. She was disappointed to wake up in the Hospital Wing, where she would be unable to escape Madam Pomfrey's eye to meet Angelina, Alicia, and Katie to go to the meeting. To her utter dismay, for various reasons such as extra lessons and fainting spells, Elaine had yet to attend a meeting, and had begun to despair of ever making it to one, as the first Quidditch game of the year arrived.

It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin and tensions were higher than ever. In the past week, Elaine had defended her friends from various curses and jinxes that the Slytherin team used in an attempt keep the Gryffindor players out of the coming game. Her unusual awareness of where the Slytherins around her were at any given moment, allowed her to counter their spells before they hit her friends. Unfortunately, she hadn't been there when Montague, the Slytherin captain, had jinxed Alicia and made her eyebrows grow so bushy she could hardly see. Elaine seethed with anger about this; she wanted revenge. The result was that her anger made her distracted and she nearly talked back to Snape the following class.

The Weasley boy looked absolutely nervous and ill when she saw him down on the pitch at the game. The game started off with a little back and forth, no one getting near the goals. Then the Slytherins started in on that awful song. All those things about the Weasley family, were just mean and it was a song designed to strike at the new Keeper's confidence. Elaine's face grew whiter and whiter with anger and the song grew louder and the Slyhterins scored four goals. Then, Angelina scored, which sent a great roaring cheer from Gryffindor and and most of the rest of the school. Elaine cheered with them, but the anger never left her eyes. There would be hell to pay for this. She would have her revenge. The game was over fairly fast, with Harry Potter catching the snitch. It was a Gryffindor win, but even that did not stop the anger seething in Elaine's mind, nor did the bludger hit to Harry after he had caught the snitch help much in that direction.

She was pleased to see he got up alright and only looked a little winded. It seemed like there was something going on, down on the ground with the Slytherins. Then, it looked like the twins were going to pound that stinking little twerp, Malfoy, into the dirt. Potter grabbed George and it took all three of the girls to stop Fred. Malfoy said something as he backed away and suddenly both Harry and Geroge were running at the boy. Potter sank a punch into Malfoy's stomach and tried to beat the brat as much as possible. George hit one of Mayfoy's cronies, Goyle, Elaine thought, who hit back in an attempt to stop George from getting to Malfoy. He hit Geroge in the mouth. Madame Hooch intervened, sending Harry and George off the pitch. Elaine watched it all, heart in her mouth, feeling her anger grow cold as she looked at the teacher's stand. She could feel Umbridge's satisfaction as the pink toad scooted from her seat after McGonagall.

Later she found out that Harry and the twins had been banned from Quidditch for life. It was preposterous. Elaine could not stand the heavy feeling in the common room, however, so after dinner she went straight to the Hospital Wing to go to bed. Malfoy was still there when she arrived; Madam Pomfrey had some other students to sort out first, both Gryffindors and Slytherins that had cursed each other during and in the aftermath of the game. Malfoy merely had bruises and he was holding a towel up to his bloody nose, which meant the other students' injuries were a bit more serious. His entourage had been forced to leave by Madam Pomfrey, so he was all alone. Elaine took advantage of this to exact a tiny bit of the revenge she had in store for the Slytherin team. As she walked past him, she viciously punched the side of his head, reasoning that he had so many bruises already, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't notice. Malfoy grunted in pain and shock and toppled off the edge of the bed. Feeling the tiniest bit pleased with herself, she drew the curtains around her bed and went to sleep.

Up until December nothing much happened that was good except the return of Hagrid and the end of the Halloween curse. For once, Halloween passed unremarked, with no strange happenings. Elaine ran afoul of Umbridge during this time. Nights of sleeping in the Hospital Wing had made her a little cranky. She had taken out her Charms book and was reading that on her desk instead of the Slinkard book. Umbridge, who had decided to take one of her rare jaunts around the room, happened to glance down and notice the difference. With a flick of her wand, she closed Elaine's book. "That's enough of that," Umbridge simpered with a sickly sweet smile, "Ten points from Gryffindor. Now please get out the assigned book and begin reading." Elaine slowly raised her eyes to Umbridge.

"I've read it," she said, deadpan.

"Tut tut. It is still a class assignment. This," she gestured to the now closed Charms book, "is not."

"No. But I've read that travesty of a defense book and thought that I might as well learn something useful in this class for once."

Umbridge's smile did not fade, but somehow grew colder. "Is that so?"

Elaine was getting into her stride now. She knew she should stop, but the words were pouring out of her mouth anyway. "You claim our past teachers have taught us nothing, but we haven't learned a thing in this class since you got here. Devensive Theory? What a load of crap. The only thing useful we're learning in this class is how to sleep with our eyes open. The only way you've revolutionalized the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to not teach it at all." Elaine stood now, grabbing her copy of Devensive Magical Theory from her bag as she did so. She slammed it down on the desk hard. "The only use this book has is as a paperweight. And you know what? You can take you teaching methods and your waste of paper book and shove them up your arse." She thrust the book at Umbridge's chest hard.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," said Umbridge, though her tone was gleeful. "I think some time in detention might improve your attitude. You will come to my office every night this week."

Elaine scowled at her. "I look forward to it, you great toad."

Umbridge's smile turned nasty, but she did nothing but hand a note to Elaine and point her out of the classroom. "You'll take that to Professor McGonagall and I will see you tonight, 6 o'clock sharp." The class watched Elaine silently as she picked up up her bag and grabbed her Charms book off the desk. That was the longest continuous speech any of them had ever heard her utter. Umbridge turned back to the front of the classroom and Elaine stopped in the doorway to fling a rude gesture in her direction before heading out and slamming the door violently.

Her detentions were no fun, with Umbridge making her write lines with that stupid quill that used her own blood for ink. It was positively medieval, Elaine thought. She was forced to write "I must show respect to authority" and after every line she wrote she added in a low tone, "but only when they deserve it and aren't fat pink toads." It made her feel better, but was no doubt the reason that Umbridge kept her later and later each night. She was finally allowed to sleep in the dormitories again; her fainting spells were a thing of the past. When she returned to her room after her final detention, she drew the curtains of her long disused bed. Her time in the Hospital Wing had given her a very wide array of healing spells, picked up mostly from boredom and a few from Madam Pomfrey's explicit instruction. She had been allowed to play nurse a few times, when the injuries were easy enough for her to handle. These scratches were of the easy kind, despite being caused by magic. Magical injuries were more difficult to heal than those caused by physical means, but these were ones she'd healed for some younger students under Madam Pomfrey's watch. Waving her wand over the marks a few times, the words were completely gone. It still stung, but at least it didn't show anymore.

Angelina managed to find decent replacements for the lost team members, as the holidays drew near. The twins' little sister was the new Seeker, while the two new Beaters were people Elaine didn't know. Elaine didn't make it to the last D.A. meeting before the holidays, despite her best effort. She made a renewed vow to make it to all of them after holidays. She was going to do everything she could to punish Umbridge and the Ministry. The reason she missed the meeting was that the night before she was called into Umbridge's office, quite late in her opinion. McGonagall was there as well, and Elaine wondered what she had done this time. McGonagall was solemn, while Umbridge had the look of someone refraining from smirking.

Warily, Elaine approached Umbridge's desk and sat down. "You are not the one to tell her this. It is for Dumbledore to say," McGonagall snapped. Umbridge ignored her.

"I'm so very sorry to tell you this my dear, but your grandmother is dead," Umbridge said, not sounding sorry at all. Elaine felt the world around her receding, her stomach dropping out. She couldn't believe it. Her mind just would not wrap around the concept. "She was discovered dead in her home earlier this evening, and after an investigation we have deduced that it was natural causes."

Elaine blinked slowly. "What?"

"Old age, dear. You grandmother died of old age." Umbridge's smirk was showing through now, despite her efforts to hide it. She held out a picture to Elaine. It was of her grandmother, laying on their carpet at home.

Acrua looked almost peaceful, but Elaine recognized the look of disgust beneath the calm set of the face. This wasn't old age, she could tell. It was a curse. "Voldemort," Elaine said under her breath and felt McGonagall's hand close tightly on her shoulder. And if she needed more proof, there was Patches, near the edge of the photo, hackles raised and wild terror in her eyes, hiding beneath the sofa with the rest of the animals, who were indistinct in the shadows. The Ministry wouldn't have terrified her animals this way, only Dark Magic. Elaine slowly raised her eyes to Umbridge. The squat woman was staring intently at her, as if waiting for something. She wants me to cry, Elaine thought incredulously. She actually wants to watch me bawl. The tears, so close behind her eyes, were instantly boiled away with anger. She wanted to lunge across the desk and strangle Umbridge. Her hands balled into fists on her lap, an action McGonagall noticed. Grabbing Elaine's shoulders, the Head of Gryffindor House lifted her from her seat and steered her out the door.

"I'm so sorry, Kellswater, I truly am. It was supposed to be Dumbledore, but the news came through the Ministry." McGonagall shook her head in disgust.

That made sense and Elaine nodded miserably. She wanted her animals, but they were all so far away. But she wasn't ready to face the empty house, not yet. She decided to stay at Hogwarts, her second home, instead. Feeling hollow, she followed McGonagall back to the dormitory. The Common Room was empty when she walked in. She curled up in one of the armchairs and it felt as though a tap had been turned on. Tears flowed in rivers from her eyes and sobs shook her thin form. She cried as she had never cried before in her life.

The next day, depression crushing her soul, Elaine went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. An odd choice to be sure, but there, all alone, she poured out her heart to the ghost, who listened surprisingly patiently. And although she had promised to go with her friends to the D.A. meeting, she fell asleep right there in the bathroom, exhausted. She knew she would likely be in trouble for ditching classes, but fortunately she did not have Snape or Umbridge that day, and McGonagall would likely have told the other teachers what had occurred. The next morning, after returning to the Gryffindor dormitory stiff and cold, she found out all the Weasleys had vanished along with Harry Potter.

Almost all the Gryffidors had fled Hogwarts for the holidays, some just to get as far away from Umbridge as possible. Elaine was one of those left behind. Her friends offered words of pity for her having to stay behind. She still hadn't told them about her grandmother's death, preferring to say that she was here because her grandmother had been unable to have her come home, rather than saying it was her own choice. Abby of course knew about Acrua's demise, and had immediately written to Elaine, offering her a place. But as much as she wished to run to her best friend and have someone's shoulder to cry on, Abby's house was far too close and she would have to face the reality of her grandmother's death in a more solid form. Abby had fetched all the animals, however, and was taking care of them in Elaine's absence.

Christmas was dismal for Elaine, made worse by the fact there was a present for her from Acrua, sent to the castle prior to her death. It reopened all the wounds and almost made Elaine hope her grandmother was still alive and it was all a mistake. This hope was rapidly crushed by the realistic part of her brain. Taw had sent an edible family photo, including the Stewarts, which Elaine set up by her bedside, unwilling to eat it. Mugwy came in person, or rather, in cat, to deliver Abby's present. It was a book on conjuring spells, with a whole section on conjuring swords. The cat himself was part of the present as he spent the whole of Christmas day with her. There would be no Christmas movie marathon, as in previous years, but she was glad the cat was here. When she sent him back the next day, with a thank you to Abby, she almost wished he could stay. But it was better if he was with the rest of the animals, in case the young gerbils needed protection.

When everyone had returned from break, Elaine discovered the reason the Weasleys had disappeared was that their father had been attacked or something, but was now completely fine. The Weasleys did show up again after holidays, despite a large amount of gossip that they would not. Fred and George were hawking their newest products, Headless Hats, which really were a clever bit of magic. Elaine thought guiltily and wistfully about her own unfinished product. She thought about giving it up; the twins clearly had the joke arena well covered. Not long after the start of term, everyone was buzzing about the mass breakout at Azkaban, which was thought to be the work of Sirius Black, according to the Prophet, and which Elaine knew was a lie, since Sirius was innocent.

It was a downhill slide from there. Hagrid was put on probation, which Elaine was not happy about, though from Umbridge's reputation with half-breeds, not unexpected. The only upside was that the school seemed lest hostile to Potter and those who believed his story from the previous year. Elaine notice the subtle change less than the others, as none of it had been directed at her due to her invisibility within the school. There was a new Educational Decree in response to the mass breakout, which forbade teachers from giving students any information but on whatever subject they teach.

This was a great argument point with Umbridge, as Lee Jordan demonstrated in their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Fred and George were playing Exploding Snap in the back of the classroom, near Elaine as it happened. Umbridge told them off, and Lee told her off, saying that it wasn't related to her subject. Naturally he was given detention and was just another of the students to sport the bleeding hand. Elaine felt sorry for him and would have offered her healing skills, but she didn't know him well enough to approach him and not have it taken suspiciously.

Umbridge was sitting in on all Hagrid's classes, though how she managed it and still was able to teach her own, was a mystery. Of course, "teaching" didn't quite cover what she did do in her class. Elaine was very prickly towards her, but made a point of showing her healed hand at every opportunity. Umbridge was no longer oblivious to her presence, after that episode the previous term. Umbridge's eye twitched a little every time she saw her scars had been erased.

Elaine was finally able to join the D.A. which she attended with furious energy. No one seemed to take much notice of her when she joined, aside from signing the list, which she was sure had some kind of spell on it to keep people from ratting out the group. She also received her fake Galleon, which she kept in her pocket, even when she slept. She worked as hard as she could, putting all her hatred of Umbridge into every spell she cast.

Quite suddenly, February arrived. Elaine was disgusted to note that the next Hogsmeade visit was on Valentine's Day. She was torn between wanting to go to Zonko's and Honeyduke's, and wishing to avoid all the lovey-dovey couples that she had never developed a taste for seeing. In the end, she decided to stay at Hogwarts and finish her joke product. Seeing the twins putting out so much had livened her competitive streak and she wanted to have something on par with them. Much to her utter surprise, it didn't take her long to work it out, and as if she had an epiphany, the first thing she tried worked. Her first joke product was now ready for testers.

The next Quidditch game was mercifully short, only twenty-two minutes. Gryffindor managed to only lose by ten points too, which was impressive, given how terrible the Gryffindor team was playing. Elaine could hardly bear to watch, but stuck it out for her friends. Then _The Quibbler_ came out, with Potter's interview. Elaine became aware of it at the same time as many of the other students, that is, when Umbridge banned the magazine. She picked up her copy quickly and charmed it to look like the pages of _Defensive Magical Theory_, so she could read it in Umbridge's class, right under her nose, just to spite the old toad. All the children of named Death Eaters were acting very nasty, but they couldn't contradict anything because it would mean admitting they read the article that was banned. Elaine smiled brightly at the groups of them whenever she saw them.

Elaine was in the courtyard when Trelawny was fired by Umbridge. She froze where she was at and watched the drama unfold. Umbridge tried to send the Divination teacher away from Hogwarts, at which point Dumbledore interceded. Trelawny was still fired, but no one but the headmaster could make anyone leave the school. Then Dumbledore introduced the new Divination teacher, a centaur, who strode into shocked courtyard. The look on Umbridge's face was priceless. Elaine imprinted it into her memory forever.

The next D.A. meeting was a disaster. It started off well enough, practicing Patronuses. Elaine sent her Tiger bounding out, smiling at it. Then a house elf arrived, and the room went silent. After listening and talking to it for a few seconds, Harry Potter told them all to run, Umbridge was coming. Everyone sprinted for the exit and scattered. Elaine evaded the Slytherins lurking in wait with Umbridge, but even as she felt elated in her escape, she was sure that something would implicate her in the end.

The next morning Umbridge was the new Head of Hogwarts, but everyone knew that Dumbledore had taken on two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister of Magic, and his Junior Assistant and triumphed to escape. But it was also being whispered that the Head's office had sealed itself on Umbridge and she couldn't get in. Served the puffed up old toad right, she thought. But then dawned the reign of Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad. All Slytherins, they exercised their new power of docking points on all the other houses, taking from Gryffindor with particular enthusiasm. During break, Montague, the Syltherin Quidditch captain, tried to dock points from the Weasley twins. Elaine watched, highly amused as they stuffed him in the Vanishing Cabinet headfirst before he could get the words out. That gave her an idea and the first Slytherin to try it on her, got their mouth hexed shut so they were unable to say anything at all. On her way to her next class, she overheard the twins discussing that it was time for some real mayhem, exactly what Umbridge deserved. She couldn't wait for it to start.

Phase one started fittingly with a loud BOOM. Fireworks ran wild all over the second floor, heading to the rest of the school. Umbridge's attempt to stun produced a large explosion, and George whispered to Potter that Vanishing them multiplied them by ten. Elaine smiled gleefully at all the mess; those twins really were geniuses. She thought about Vanishing a couple herself, just to add to Umbridge's trouble. The other teachers pretended no knowledge of how to stop the fireworks and Umbridge was forced to run all over the school to do something about them herself.

Phase two didn't happen until after the Easter holidays were over. It came in the form of a swamp in the corridor of Gregory the Smarmy. The Inquisitorial Squad and Umbridge cornered the twins in the entrance hall. Filtch brought the forms for whipping, looking happier than Elaine had ever seen him.

"You two are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers at my school," Umbridge said.

Fred answered back. "You know what? I don't think we are." Turning to his twin he added, "George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself."

"Time to test out talents in the real world, d'you reckon?"

"Defnitely."

The twins summoned their brooms, which came zooming to them, one still dragging a chain and peg. "We won't be seeing you," Fred said to Umbridge, getting on his broom.

"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," George added.

Fred turned to all the students assembled. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley - Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." George pointed at Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" Umbridge yelled, voice high-pitched. She was too late; the twins were out of reach.

"Giver her hell from us, Peeves," was Fred's parting words. Peeves gave them a salute, to everyone's surprise; Peeves never listened to the students. Elaine applauded with the rest of the students as the twins sped out the open front doors into the sunset. Wistfully, she wished she could do the same thing. It must be a great feeling to already have your feet under you before you've left school.

The swamp stayed behind, to the students' delight and the horror of Umbridge and Filch. New troublemakers were cropping up all over the place. Elaine saw Lee Jordan levitate a niffler into Umbridge's office through the window. They had all taken to wearing a Bubble-Head Charm between classes since there were so many Stinkpellets and Dungbombs being dropped. All the Inquisitorial Squad members kept having strange accidents. Elaine, who had never quite forgiven Pansy Parkinson's snide comments to Angelina all the time, gave the Slytherin girl a pair of antlers. But the best part by far was that people were using the Skiving Snackboxes to claim they were suffering from "Umbridge-itis." This was quite an amusing spectacle, but not nearly so much as all the trouble Peeves was causing.

The last weekend in May was the last Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. The Gryffindors had little hope of a win, and their fears were seemingly verified when Ron let in the first goal. But then, inexplicably, he started doing really well. He blocked most of the shots. Feeling as though it was someone else working her mouth, Elaine started up a version of "Weasley is Our King" that she had been toying around with whenever the tune got stuck in her head. She started out quiet, but grew louder and those around her joined in heartily, glad to use the Slytherin's song against them.

_Weasley is our King,_

_ Weasley is our King,_

_ He didn't let the Quaffle in,_

_ Weasley is our King._

_ Weasley can save anything,_

_ He never leaves a single ring,_

_ That's why Griffindors all sing:_

_ Weasley is our King._

The game went on, Gryffindors picking up the song quickly and belting it out at a louder volume than the Slytherins had ever achieved. The game went well; Ron made some more spectacular saves, and Gryffindor won, with Ginny snatching the snitch. The red and gold clad supporters carried Ron off the field and back to the castle, still singing the words Elaine had invented.

But exams were closing in fast after that, and Elaine felt woefully unprepared for her N.E.W.T.s. Just don't forget to breathe, and you'll do fine, she schooled herself every day, after her lessons. You've learned all this, you've made your own spells, exams are nothing. Nothing at all. Abby was not coming for the N.E.W.T.s this year; she had taken them the previous year since she was on an accelerated ciriculum. Their exams were done at the same time as the O.W.L.s, but in different places and times. Still, all the Astronomy examinations were done at the same time, to minimize the amount of time the examiners and students spent awake late at night.

As such, Elaine was witness to the fight down at Hagrid's cabin. She watched Umbridge and whomever she had with her, there were five others, send Stunning spells at Hagrid. The spells bounced off him, a product of his giant's blood. Fang was Stunned and that seemed to make Hagrid very angry. He threw the caster of the spell a good ten feet and the man did not get back up. McGonagall came rushing out, shouting at the attackers to leave Hagrid alone. Then, four Stunning spells caught her in the chest and she was thrown back. She did not move. Elaine's heart flew into her mouth. Hagrid knocked out two more of the attackers in fury, with a single swipe of his hands. Hagrid picked up Fang and ran off towards the gates, quickly becoming lost in the darkness. Elaine was horrified. Even as she saw McGonagall being carried into the castle, she knew that it was beyond Madam Pomfrey. The Gryffindor Head would be sent to St. Mungo's for sure.

Once exams were over, Elaine felt light-headed. It was unbelievable that she was done with school. It hadn't quite sunk in yet. She decided to go see Moaning Myrtle, who she would no longer see after this year, unless the ghost came to visit. Myrtle actually ceased her moaning for the entire visit, only starting up again when Elaine told her that she would no longer be coming by, but that the ghost was welcome to visit anytime.

From there Elaine joined into the exuberant "exams are finally done" party that the seventh years were having. There's was a different sort of celebration than that of the fifth years, who were much less rowdy. There was much drinking involved, and much prankish activity. They even contrived to torture Filch and Mrs. Norris a bit in the process. Elaine no longer cared about her exam scores; there wasn't anyone to show them to anyway and they weren't needed to open one's own shop, as she had decided to do.

Umbridge had disappeared into the forest at one point that night and when Dumbledore returned he walked her right out, no problem. Elaine simultaneously wanted and did not want to attend the end of year feast. On one hand it was her last ever, and on the other, it was saying good bye to everything she had come to love. Ultimately she went, and was glad of it, for she got to see Umbridge chased off by Peeves.

The train ride to London was long and solemn for Elaine. She promised to keep in touch with her Hogwarts friends, but all the same, it was almost as though they were never going to see each other again. Angelina had been accepted by a Quidditch team, Elaine could never remember the name, and Alicia was going to be working abroad, in America, doing something obscure that Elaine didn't understand. The other people in her class all seemed similarly sure of themselves. Lee Jordan was going to try his hand at being a radio show host. And the twins had already gotten their business well off the ground.

All her friends were happy enough to head home, but Elaine knew what was waiting for her: an empty house and her animals. But, she thought as she steeled herself on the ride to London, I think I'm ready to face this. I've put it off for far too long. Besides her grandmother, Sirius Black was dead, a fact she did not find out until her employment by the twins, since Acrua had been her only link to the Order. Abby was bringing the animals back by, but seemed reluctant to go outside anywhere for very long, which was odd from someone usually so outgoing.

When she finally returned to her house, Elaine had never felt more alone. It was empty save for the animals and she kept hoping that her grandmother would walk around a corner or through a door. But that time was over. She was on her own now. No more grandmother. No more school. She was determined to make her life good. It was time for a change, she thought. She decided that tomorrow, she would get her hair cut short. It was time to prove she could take care of herself. No more hiding in the walls. No more mouse. She would get her affairs in order, enjoy her last summer, then find a job. Elaine knew she was strong. It was time to show it to the rest of the world.


End file.
